Steam usage is a major factor in the overall cost of production in the pulp and paper industry.
Questions that might be asked by mill personnel are:

•  What should the steam usage be at the current production and ambient conditions?
•  Which department is meeting, or not meeting, their energy usage targets?
•  How are the important process variables performing in relation to targets?

The Energy Targetter™ will help operators, shift supervisors, and managers answer these questions, track energy from unit operations to overall mill usage, and avoid energy usage creep. It consists of three parts:

• Part 1: is the equation that predicts the energy usage of the mill based on how it has performed in the last 12 months. This equation is derived using neural networks. As energy measures take effect, the mill personnel should be able to see a gap between the two lines, actual and predicted, indicative of the improvement. This equation takes into account all seasonal ambient conditions and departmental production so that at any time it is a true image of the mill energy consumption, calibrated for all operating conditions.
  
  
• Part 2: monitors the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for each department, i.e. the steam economy or the Btu/ADMT. The KPIs are an indication of each department's energy performance.
  
  
• Part 3: monitors the KEPs (Key Energy Parameters), i.e. the process variables that mill personnel must pay attention to in order to keep the energy performance efficient, i.e. the steam valve opening to the silo, O2 control of the boiler, etc. These are things that might not normally be monitored, but are very important.
  
  

Energy deviation alerts can be set to automatically notify appropriate mill personnel by email.