Port Townsend Paper Corporation (B)

University of Washington
© June Morita, 4/93

25 - October 1993

Memorandum
To: Manufacturing Managers,
Port Townsend Paper Corporation
From:June Morita, President,
Port Townsend Paper Corporation

re: Waste heat boiler adjustments - modeling and monitoring.

Given the current public opinion regarding environmental pollution, specifically that generated from waste heat boilers used in the pulping process, I am concerned that we here at Port Townsend are not in a position to respond quickly enough to the challenges of tightened regulations with which we are faced. Although we do have a handle on the parameters and interactions of our waste heat boiler operation (working committee results) we do not have a model which utilizes this information to adjust the boiler concurrently with its operation. Such a real-time adjustment of the boiler would afford us the flexibility of being able to monitor and control the opacity of the stack plume in accordance with the changing regulatory requirements.

To this end, I and my staff have decided that a model of the stack opacity and the waste heat boiler should be developed. Such a model should be usable by boiler operators and used to continually monitor and adjust the stack opacity in accordance with current pollution requirements. As the manufacturing managers, I am asking you to form a working team to develop this model building on the work which previously has been performed (Exhibit B1). The objective of this program is to refine the operating parameters of the waste heat boiler in such a manner that the opacity of the stack plume can be augmented by the boiler operator during everyday operation without any interference with normal production. Such a model is important for the Port Townsend Paper Corporation to be able to adapt to the continually fluid, regulatory environment.

As a follow-on to the previous working committee proposal/project, I am asking you to directly develop the necessary model for real-time adjustment of the boiler according to stack plume monitoring. No proposal is necessary; rather, develop the model, but do not implement until we have had a chance to review and align against our current requirements.

Included in the model should be a detailed representation of the parameters and how they affect opacity, limits used in determining the model and coefficients, and the variability significance of the model. Also, a discussion of the procedure used in developing the model should be included along with an exploratory data analysis and an outlier analysis.

This program will be presented directly to me or my staff. The 15-20 minutes presentation should contain a summary of the proposed program including:

Exhibit B1: Port Townsend Waste Heat Boiler Data

Also available as text file.
ROW
opacity
psig
xs-oxy
fir-rate
temp
solids
(%)
(%)
(klbs/hr)
(deg-F)
(%)
1
7.0
15.0
6.50
80
535
72.3
2
6.0
16.0
5.20
90
540
70.4
3
9.0
16.0
6.40
90
540
69.9
4
11.5
17.0
5.20
95
540
73.7
5
5.0
16.0
4.60
90
540
71.8
6
7.0
13.0
7.90
70
520
72.7
7
9.0
15.0
6.40
80
535
72.2
8
11.0
17.0
4.70
95
555
71.5
9
11.0
17.0
4.25
90
540
73.3
10
15.0
17.0
4.00
105
570
70.9
11
5.0
17.0
4.10
90
540
72.6
12
14.0
17.0
3.90
105
580
71.2
13
20.0
18.0
3.50
125
605
70.8
14
12.0
17.0
4.10
105
580
70.9
15
19.0
18.0
3.20
120
600
70.6
16
17.5
19.0
2.60
120
600
69.4
17
16.0
16.0
4.20
110
570
70.4
18
23.0
19.0
3.70
120
600
70.6
19
25.0
17.0
6.00
100
570
69.5
20
18.0
18.0
3.80
115
595
68.5
21
9.0
17.0
6.70
100
560
69.1
22
16.5
17.0
4.40
100
605
67.8
23
15.0
17.0
4.00
100
610
68.1
24
22.0
16.0
3.50
100
600
67.9
25
15.2
18.0
3.60
115
590
69.8
26
17.0
20.0
2.20
120
590
69.2
27
6.0
18.0
4.10
105
560
67.5
28
20.0
20.0
2.60
120
600
68.3
29
8.0
18.0
3.80
110
560
66.9
30
8.0
18.0
4.00
105
565
67.5
31
10.0
19.0
2.75
115
580
70.0
32
6.0
15.0
7.20
95
570
67.9
33
9.0
17.5
5.00
110
580
68.9
34
13.0
18.0
3.00
120
605
68.9
35
12.0
17.0
3.90
120
600
69.0
36
21.0
19.0
3.80
120
610
68.0
37
18.0
17.0
3.30
120
605
69.6
38
9.5
19.0
2.50
125
600
69.4
39
15.5
18.0
5.20
90
550
69.5
40
5.0
18.0
3.50
115
580
68.4
41
22.0
18.0
6.50
90
545
70.3
42
13.0
18.0
4.50
105
580
70.8
43
11.0
16.0
4.40
105
580
69.0
44
22.0
19.0
3.50
115
600
72.4
45
23.0
19.0
3.50
115
600
72.3