KRAFT CONTINUOUS DIGESTER COOKING CONTROL - DMT CONTROLS EFFECTIVE ALKALI, REDUCES KAPPA-NUMBER VARIABILITY

The control objective of a continuous pulp digester is to achieve maxi mum pulp production at a specified kappa number with a minimum of chem icals and energy input. Reducing the variability of effective alkali t hrough closed loop control is believed to contribute to smoother diges ter operation and reduced kappa number variation. This paper describes the application of a dynamic modelling technology (DMT) predictive ad aptive process controller that was able to provide closed loop control of effective alkali and resulted in reduced Kappa number variability, which resulted in annual savings in excess of $100 000.