2000 TAPPI JOURNAL PEER REVIEWED PAPER

ENERGY-EFFICIENT PRE-EVAPORATION OF BLEACH PLANT FILTRATES ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF VARIOUS OPTIONS Jessica Algehed*, Jan Strmberg, Thore Berntsson Department of Heat and Power Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, S-412 96 Gteborg, Sweden

Abstract: Increased pulp mill closure will in many cases lead to evaporation of bleach plant filtrates and a new energy situation in the mill. Due to the new conditions, various preevaporation plants are evaluated and compared from an energy and economic perspective in order to find the best way of managing a certain evaporation demand. Waste-heat driven plants are compared to utility-driven ones, such as pre-evaporation with steam of 12 or 4 bar or mechanical vapor recompression (MVR). Pre-evaporation with excess heat is found to be one of the best alternatives from energy perspective and economically reasonable under most conditions. Application: Cost estimates and understanding of the energy consequences of new evaporation demands play an important role in the energy-strategic planning of future mills. Keywords: mill closure, evaporation, bleach plant filtrates, pinch technology, process integration, optimization, heat pump and energy

INTRODUCTION When striving towards the minimum-impact pulp mill, an important measure is to reduce the water consumption by closing the water loop. Increased water recycling will strongly influence the chemical, as well as, the energy balance of the mill. Two major consequences are:
new demands for internal cleaning of different process streams (often referred to as kidneys) will arise;
the demand for raw water heating will decrease or vanish, which will generate new waste heat sources at higher temperatures than today. Among several techniques for water cleaning we focus on evaporation as a means for concentrating a dry substance content. This technique seems to be the most likely choice in the near future and, furthermore, it is the most heat-demanding unit operation in a pulp mill. In Figure 1, a future mill with an extremely closed cycle is shown. The bleach plant filtrate not being counter-currently used in the bleach plant is pre-evaporated and the condensates are used as process water again (after cleaning, if necessary). Many mills world-wide have

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experiences of closing the water loop [1-5], and even though they rarely have this closed water-loops, several have experiences of pre-evaporating bleach plant filtrates [6-7].

Make-up water

Wood

Cooking

O2

Bleach plant
Bleach plant effluent

Drying

Pulp

White liquor

Black liquor

Recovery area

Black liquor evaporation

Concentrate

Preevaporation

Dirty condensate

Clean condensate

Condensate cleaning

Condensate

Recipient
Clean condensate Rest products

Figure 1.

Location of a pre-evaporation plant in a future, minimum impact pulp mill.

In this paper, pre-evaporation plants with various heat supply sources (waste heat included) are evaluated and compared from an energy and economic perspective. The aim is to show energy-efficient and economic ways of managing a certain evaporation demand under the new conditions that mill closure leads to.

PRE-EVAPORATION PLANT CASE STUDIES Future pre-evaporation of bleach plant filtrates will in many ways differ from traditional black liquor evaporation:
The bleach plant filtrates will mainly be evaporated at fairly low dry substance content and the boiling point rise will therefor be low. This will make it possible to use more effects in a certain temperature range than for black liquor, and the use of vapor recompression more suitable due to a low temperature lift. The low dry substance content will keep the viscosity low, even at low temperatures, and with new technology it is already today possible to evaporate bleach plant filtrates down to 40C [20]. New technology under development, as plastic evaporators, will make it economically feasible to use even bigger heat transfer surfaces than today. Smaller waste heat sources than today can then become economically feasible.

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New kidneys aiming at purging non-process elements may change the content in the future bleach plant filtrate, and the scaling and foaming problems of today, limiting the temperatures at which evaporation is performed, may not even remain. Pre-evaporation at higher temperatures than today might then be possible.

Due to the differences from traditional black liquor evaporation and the new energy situation in the minimum impact pulp mill discussed above, many new ways of running a future pre-evaporation plant are interesting: compressor driven plants, waste heat driven ones and plants driven at high temperatures. In this work, four different types of pre-evaporation plants have been studied. All have falling-film evaporators in series with countercurrent feed flow, but the heating and cooling demands, electricity consumption and working temperatures differ. The plants are divided into two main groups: utility-driven ones, using live steam or electricity, and waste-heat driven ones. The utility-driven plants are shown schematically in Figure 2 and the waste-heat driven in Figure 3. The LP-driven plant uses 4 bar steam from a back-pressure turbine and rejects steam at 60C. The MP-driven plant uses 12 bar steam from an extraction turbine, and rejects 4 bar steam that is fed to the LP steam network or directly to a consumer. The mechanical vapor recompression (MVR)-driven plant uses its own reject steam, upgraded by using a compressor or fan(s). The waste-heat-driven plants, lastly, use various amounts of excess heat at different temperatures and reject vapor at 40C.

LP steam line

MP steam line

Steam out 60C LP steam line

Compressor or electrical fans

Figure 2.

Utility-driven alternatives. From left to right: LP, MP and heat pump alternatives.

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Steam from waste-heat source

Steam out 40-60C

Figure 3.

Waste-heat supplied pre-evaporation plant.

THE IMPACT OF PRE-EVAPORATION ON THE TOTAL ENERGY BALANCE OF THE MILL When heat-integrating different sections in a mill, heat rejected at a high temperature in one section is used as a heat source at a lower temperature in another section. An example of common heat integration in existing mills is pre-heating of bleach plant wash water with evaporation plant off-steam and flash steam from the digester. The more integrated all different parts in a mill are, the smaller the total heat and cooling demands may be. A preevaporation plant can either be heat integrated with the existing pulp mill, i.e. the plant uses heat recovered from elsewhere in the process and/or rejects heat to be used elsewhere, or non- integrated, i.e. run separately from the rest of the process. An integrated pre-evaporation plant does not increase the total heating and cooling demands, while a non-integrated does (The MVR-driven plant excepted). To find opportunities for direct heat integration between parts of the mill and true waste heat sources, the grand composite curve (GCC) is often used [19]. This curve shows the minimum net heating and cooling demands for a process at each temperature level, when, for a defined minimal temperature difference in each heat exchanger, maximum heat recovery within the process has been assumed (Figure 4). The pinch point (100C in Figure 4) divides the process into two parts: one above the pinch point which has a net demand for heat, and one below the pinch point which has a net surplus of heat. Only heat sources below the pinch temperature should be considered as true waste heat sources. The GCC can be constructed for the entire mill or individual departments, depending on the aim of the analysis. The GCC in Figure 4 represents the net curve for the example mill (for details see Base case data and assumptions), including all departments except the pre-evaporation plant. In the same type of T-Q diagram a single evaporator can be represented as a rectangle, where the length corresponds to the heat demand and the height to the temperature difference between the

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entering and leaving steam, and a multi-effect evaporator train can consequently be represented as a pile of rectangles.
minimum steam demand

200

150

pinch point T (C)

100

Waste heat from bleach plant Waste heat from black liquor evaporation

50

minimum cooling demand

0 0 20 40 60 80 100

Q (kW)

Figure 4.

GCC for the model mill, pre-evaporation plant not included.

By including the different pre-evaporation options in Figure 4, it can easily be seen how much the total heating and cooling demands increase with the different pre-evaporation plants. The waste-heat and MP driven plants can all be integrated with the rest of the process, with virtually no impact on the total heating and cooling demands (Figure 5 and Figure 6).
minimum steam demand

200

150

Pre-evaporation integrated with digester

T (C)

100

Pre-evaporation integrated with existing black liquor evaporation

50

minimum cooling demand

0 0 20 40 60 80 100

Q (kW)

Figure 5.

Two examples of excess-heat integrated pre-evaporation of bleach plant filtrate.

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200

minimum steam demand

150

Pre-evaporation with MP steam

T (C)

100

50

minimum cooling demand

0 0 20 40 60 80 100

Q (kW)

Figure 6.

Pre-evaporation with MP-steam.

Their maximum sizes (heat demands) are given by the shape of the GCC. The LP driven plant on the other hand, cannot be integrated at all, and increases both the heating and cooling demands of the mill (Figure 7). The MVR-driven plant is not integrated with the rest of the process, but as it uses its own reject steam and not live steam, it does not increase the total heat demand. The consequences for the electricity production caused by the different plants cannot be seen in the GCC. When using waste heat for pre-evaporation, the electricity production is not affected. The MP and the MVR driven plants decrease the net production of electricity, while the LP-driven plant increases the possibilities for power generation. From an energy perspective, pre-evaporation with excess heat will in most cases be the best choice, due to its low impact on the total energy system. Using excess heat from the black-liquor evaporation plant or the digester will neither increase the total heating or cooling demands, nor affect the electricity production. The cooling temperature will, however, become lower than before, causing the size of the cooling equipment to increase even though the cooling load is not influenced. Compared to the LP-driven plant, both the MP and the MVR-driven plants are favorable from an energy point of view, as increased evaporation is possible without increasing the heating or cooling demands for the total system.

BASE CASE DATA AND ASSUMPTIONS Example mill The pulp mill discussed in this paper is an assumed modern Scandinavian market kraft pulp mill, producing 335,000 ADt/year. The mill has 4 m3/ADt of bleach plant filtrate at 60C, to be pre-evaporated. The filtrate is pre-evaporated from 1.25% DS to 17% DS and then, for example, fed to the existing black-liquor evaporation plant or other treatment. When evaporating the filtrate to 17% DS, the remaining 0.3 m3/ADt of concentrated bleach plant

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filtrate normally can be evaporated with the black liquor, without increasing the evaporator area in the black liquor evaporation plant.

200

minimum steam demand Pre-evaporation with LP steam

150

T (C)

100

50

minimum cooling demand

0 0 20 40 60 80 100

Q (kW)

Figure 7.

Non-integrated pre-evaporation with LP live-steam.

Evaporator design data We have assumed that the pressure drop is constant and corresponds to a temperature loss of 1C in each effect for the utility-driven plants and 2C per effect for the waste-heat driven ones (due to the low temperatures of the waste-heat sources) [18]. The filtrate is assumed to have the same properties as diluted black liquor [9-11]. The heat transfer coefficients are in the range of 1200-2700 W/m2,C. They are calculated using well-known expressions from literature [12-13] and temperature and dry substance content dependence have been combined to reflect the new conditions included in this study. Heat recovery within the evaporation plants In order to recover as much heat as possible within the pre-evaporation plant, the entering bleach plant filtrate is heat-exchanged with the leaving condensates. As a minimal temperature difference of 5C is used, all utility-driven plants will generate condensates of 65C and the waste-heat-driven ones condensates of 45C. We have found that if the heatexchanger network is designed according to pinch technology rules, virtually all heat needed for pre-heating the filtrate, both before entering the first effect and between the effects, can be supplied within the pre-evaporation plant. This minimises the use of live steam for preheating the filtrate. The investment cost for the heat exchangers needed is taken into account. Economic data The investment cost for the evaporators and the size exponent used are based on price estimations from a major Scandinavian supplier of process equipment, and include transport and start-up costs [14]. Investment costs for four different cases (listed in Table 1) have been used for calculating the investment costs for the different plants. To make the cost estimations

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dependent on the number of effects, the cases with two evaporators have been used for calculating the investment cost when up to three effects are needed, and the cases with five and six evaporators when more than three effects are needed. The equation for the investment cost for the compressor is taken from a North American comparison of different compressor suppliers [15]. All technical and economic data used for the calculations of the base case are listed in Table 1.

Economic and technical conditions Yearly production of pulp Filtrate flow Filtrate temperature Dry solid contents in entering filtrate Dry solid contents in leaving filtrate Heat transfer coefficients Electricity price Internal fuel price Investment cost for evaporators: 6x700 m2 6x1400 m2 2x4500 m2 3x4000 m2 Size exponent Compressor investment cost

Comments 335 000 ADt 4 m3/ADt 60C 1.25% 17% 1800-3200 W/m2K 300 SEK/MWh 80 SEK/MWh
1000 ADt/day, 8000h/Year

50kg DS/ADt

boiler efficiency: 0.7

50 MSEK 65 MSEK 47 MSEK 56 MSEK 0.4

6.3 million US $1 8.1 million US $1 5.6 million US $1 7.0 million US $1

2[38500+3630[volume flow (m3/s) ]-0.39 +3720[power output (kW) ]0.74 +304[power output (kW) ]]
Valid for 1996, 1SEK=6 US $

Annuity factor
1 1 US$=8 SEK

0.2

Table 1.

Conditions for the base case calculations.

THE ECONOMIC COMPARISON: METHOD The economic comparison of the different pre-evaporation plants has been performed in three steps:

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a) The utility-driven pre-evaporation plants are economically optimized regarding both capital and operational costs, using the computer program Optivap, developed especially for this purpose [8]. The optimal pre-evaporation design for each case is thus determined and the lowest total cost stated. b) Using Optivap, capital costs for the waste-heat evaporator units are calculated as a function of amount of heat available and temperature of the heat. Capital cost versus amount of heat available and temperature is plotted. c) The capital costs calculated under b) do not include the cost for equipment that may be needed to recover the excess heat from the process, such as heat exchangers, piping, steam reformers etc. By comparing the capital cost for the waste-heat plants (calculated under b), with the total cost for the utility-driven plants (calculated under (a)), the maximum allowable cost for recovering the excess heat from the process can be obtained. It is then possible to assess under what conditions the waste-heat-driven plants are economically feasible. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed to determine how the results are influenced by changed steam and electricity prices, as well as changed annuity factor and different cost models for the evaporator investment cost.

ECONOMIC COMPARISON: TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC RESULTS General The optimal total cost for the LP and MP driven plants is a trade-off between investment costs and running costs. The investment costs generally depend on number of effects and total heat transfer area required, while the running costs depend on how large the heat and electricity demand for the plant is. The more effects in series, the smaller the heat demand will be. Plants with many effects will thus have the lowest running costs, but large investment costs. Large temperature differences over the plant, as well as high temperatures of the input steam, decrease the heat transfer area required. Hence, plants working with large temperature differences at high temperatures will have smaller investment costs for the evaporators than plants working with small temperature differences at low temperatures. The MVR-driven plants are more complex to optimize than the LP and MP-driven. The total cost is a balance between the investment cost for the evaporators and compressor, and the running cost for the compressor. However, many parameters tend to counteract, giving an extremely flat optimum. The allocation of the different costs is constant, independent of number of effects. One can either have a few large effects, with a large steam flow to compress and small temperature lift, or have many small effects with a small steam flow to compress and large temperature lift. Technical description of optimal utility-driven plants and waste-heat-driven plants Technical specifications like number of effects, area requirement, working temperatures, and temperature difference for the optimal design for all plants are listed in Table 2. From this table one can see that for the MVR-driven plant it is optimal to have a rather small total temperature difference, which also has been found for smaller plants [16]. For the LP and MP

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driven plants it is optimal to have as large total temperature difference as possible, since this decreases the total area required. In Figure 8 total area for the waste-heat-driven and the optimal utility-driven plants versus temperature and heat demand are shown.

Alternative

Number of Working effects temperature (C)

Area per effect (m2) 520 820 5000 5000 4000

Heat demand (MW) 16 19 35

Electricity

Total cost

(MW) 3.52 2.4 3 1.64 1.64 -

(SEK/ADt) 55 53 46 44 34

Total evaporator investment (MSEK) 52 52 49 49 56

LP MP Compressor Fans Waste heat integrated1

1

7 5 2 2 3

144-60 188-144 140-130 140-130 60-40

Integrated with black liquor evaporator condenser

Increased power production

Lost power production

Power consumption

Table 2.

Summary of important simulation and optimisation results for the optimal utility driven pre-evaporation plants and waste heat supplied plants at base case conditions.

25000

5 6

4 3 2

20000

7
Total area (m2) 15000

10000

MVR 60C

5000

LP MP

0 0 10 20 30 Heat demand (MW) 40 50

85C 100C
60

Figure 8.

Total area requirements for waste-heat alternatives and optimal utilitydriven alternatives. All points vertically of each other correspond to the same number of evaporators. The number of evaporators increases with decreasing heat demand.

Economic results for utility-driven plants The running and investment costs for the optimal utility-driven plants at the base case conditions are shown in Figure 9. From this figure it can be seen that the total cost will differ

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between the plants and be lowest for the MVR-driven. The investment costs are almost equal for the different plants, while the running costs vary.

Figure 9.

Optimal total cost for the utility-driven pre-evaporation plants under given base case conditions.

Depending on the mills possibilities to produce electrical power, the cost for the LP steam varies. If the mill is assumed to be able to increase the electrical power production without any extra investments when increasing the use of LP steam, the steam cost will be reduced by the income for the produced electricity. The total cost for the optimal LP-driven plant will then be 55 SEK/ADt, as shown in Figure 9. If the mill cannot increase the production of electrical power without making new investments, and no income for electrical power production is therefore assumed, the total cost will raise to 77 SEK/ADt. An additional cost for the LP-driven plant will be the cost of increasing the mills cooling capacity. This cost can become substantial in a mill with limited cooling capacity. The total cost for the optimal MP-driven plant will be 53 SEK/ADt. An extra cost for this plant might be for reforming the LP steam from the last effect before passing it on to a consumer or the LP steam network. If the mill is throttling HP steam to LP steam due to limited turbine capacity (which is unfortunate from an energy perspective as energy at a high temperature is degraded to a lower temperature), this case is especially favored. Fewer effects will become optimal, as the energy cost for MP essentially is negligible, and the total cost will be reduced. The total cost for the MVR-driven plant will be 46 SEK/ADt. Reports indicate that fans may be used for compressing the steam instead of a compressor [17]. The temperature lift over a fan is of course limited, but with two fans in series it will be possible to achieve the necessary temperature lift. According to manufacturers the investment cost for the two fans needed will be approximately 50% of the investment cost for a compressor. By using fans, the

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total investment cost then decreases by approximately 5%, giving a total cost of 44 SEK/ADt for the fan-driven plant. Economic results for waste-heat driven plants The estimated investment cost of the evaporators needed for pre-evaporation with waste heat versus temperature and amount of waste heat available is shown in Figure 10. The investment cost decreases with increasing amount and temperature of the waste heat. The investment cost for the waste-heat supplied plants is not the total cost for these plants. Even though the waste heat is for free, there may arise additional costs to make the waste heat available for pre-evaporation. Examples are costs for steam reformers, heat exchangers and additional piping. These costs vary between different mills and applications. In general, these extra costs increase with temperature and amount of waste heat; i.e. it will be more expensive to extract a large amount of waste heat at a high temperature, than a small amount at a lower temperature. In Figure 10, the total costs for the optimal utility driven plants are shown as well, and the maximum allowable cost for making the waste heat available at different amounts and temperature of waste heat can thus be seen. In Figure 10 it can be seen that the margin between the waste heat driven plants and the utility driven ones is highest at large amounts of high temperature waste heat and lowest at small amounts of low temperature waste heat. As stated earlier, large amounts of high temperature waste heat generally will require large investments to become available for pre-evaporation, and it is therefore not always evident whether it will be economical to use a certain waste-heat source or not.

Figure 10. Investment cost for waste-heat-driven plants versus temperature and amount of waste heat available compared to the optimal cost for the utilitydriven plants (at base case conditions). The total costs for the utility-driven alternatives are represented as horizontal lines, as they only refer to the economically optimal design, which is independent of amount of waste heat available.

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An example of pre-evaporation with excess heat in the closed mill In future closed mills the heat from the black liquor condenser will often be considered as waste heat, as the demand for warm water production decreases when the intake of fresh water is decreased or eliminated. The example mill used in this study will have about 35 MW excess heat at 60C from the black-liquor evaporation condenser when closing the water loop. To evaporate 4 m3/ADt with this amount of heat, 3 effects of approximately 4000 m2 each will be needed. It will be possible to have this number of effects due to the low or non-existing boiling-point rise of the filtrate and the low pressure drop assumed (2C in each effect). According to Figure 9, the capital cost for a waste-heat-driven evaporation plant of this size would be 38 SEK/ADt and thus be lower than the total cost for the best utility-driven plant. The cost to make the waste heat available for pre-evaporation would, in this case, be small. The extra cost would mainly be for the enlarged condenser, due to the lower off-steam temperature. According to Figure 10 this cost can be allowed to be up to 6 SEK/ADt, which corresponds to an investment of 10 million SEK, without making the waste-heat-driven plant more expensive than the other plants. The waste heat from the black liquor evaporation is just one of many possible waste-heat sources in the future mill, but often the largest and easiest to use. Other smaller waste-heat sources might be from, for example, the bleach plant, the exhaust gas scrubber or the digester.

SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS Sensitivity of the optimal design of the utility driven plants In general, optimal designs change towards fewer effects with increased investment costs and decreased running costs, and vice versa. The optimum curve (total cost versus number of effects for each case) is rather flat around the optimal design, and even though the optimal design for the MP-driven plant, for example, changes from 5 to 4 effects when the electricity price is lowered, the total cost for 5 effects is virtually the same as for 4. Due to the uncertainties in the estimations of the investment cost, we have studied how the shape of the optimum curves for the different utility-driven plants is influenced by the cost estimations made. We found that the shape of the optimum curves and the optimal number of effects are rather independent of the cost model chosen. Using a simple linear model for the evaporator investment cost gives optimum curves very similar to the ones we get using an exponential model, or a model based on a fixed cost per effect plus a part depending on the area of each effect. Sensitivity to changes in energy prices The total cost for the waste-heat driven plants is not affected by changed energy prices, as the waste heat is for free. The total cost for all utility-driven plants will on the other hand be influenced by changed energy prices, which affects the margin between the waste-heat-driven plants and the utility-driven ones.

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The total cost for the utility-driven plants at 30% lower and higher electricity price is shown in Figure 11 and Figure 12 respectively, and in Figure 13 the results are shown with the electricity lowered and steam price raised 30%. The LP-driven plant is influenced by both the fuel price and the electricity price, and is favoured by a low steam price and a high electricity price. Such price relations could occur in a mill with an over-capacity of steam, even though no external fuel like oil or bark is used, and with no other potential steam consumers near by. The MP-driven plant is influenced mainly by the electricity price but also by the fuel price, and is favoured by both a low fuel price and a low electricity price. The MVR-driven plants are the least sensitive to changed energy prices. They are only influenced by the electricity price, favoured by a low electricity price. If the electricity price is assumed to be 30% lower and the steam price at the same time 30% higher than for the base case, the relationship between the utility-driven plants changes to the benefit of the MVR-driven plants; The MVR-plant will cost almost 50% less than the LP-plant.

Figure 11. Optimal total cost for the utility-driven plants at 30% lower electricity price than for the base case.

The margin between the best utility-driven plant under different conditions and the wasteheat driven is shown in Figure 14. Sensitivity to changed investment costs By varying the annuity factor, the effects of changed investment costs have been studied. The plants with the larger portion of the total cost as investment costs are naturally the most influenced. For this reason, the relationship between the utility-driven plants is not dramatically influenced by a changed annuity factor, but the margin between the best utilitydriven plant and the waste-heat driven ones will change depending on which option that has the larger investment cost.

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Figure 12. Optimal total cost for the utility driven plants at 30% higher electricity price than the base case.

Figure 13. Optimal total cost for the utility-driven plants at 30% lower electricity price and 30% higher steam price than the base case.

Investment cost for evaporation at low temperatures The investment costs for traditional falling-film evaporators may become higher at low temperatures than at normal temperatures, but as evaporation in the pulp and paper industry today rarely is done below 50C it is difficult to predict to what extent low temperatures will affect the cost models. At low temperatures, larger areas will be required due to the decreased

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heat transfer coefficients, and larger equipment (pipes, vessels, steam rooms etc.) will be needed due to the large specific volume of the vapor and the large temperature losses already at moderate pressure drops. The enlarged areas have been accounted for, but not other additional costs.

Figure 14. Investment costs for waste-heat driven plants compared to best utility driven plants at 30% lower and 30% higher electricity price than the base case.

By making heat transfer surfaces of plastic instead of steel, the cost for evaporation at low temperatures may be lowered. Plastic evaporators have been found to work well for evaporation of bleach plant filtrates, according to pilot runs at Stora Gruvn pulp mill in Sweden [7], but have an upper temperature limitation of around 70C. Low-cost heat transfer surfaces will make it possible to use even smaller, or cooler, waste-heat sources than exemplified in this work with reasonable economy, as the margin between the waste-heat plants and the utility-driven ones will increase. Cheaper heat transfer surfaces will also lower the total cost for the MVR-driven plant. The plastic heat transfer surfaces will make it optimal to build larger evaporators and thereby decrease the temperature lift and the electricity consumption for the compressor or the fans.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS There are several attractive ways of handling an increased evaporation demand in the future pulp mill. The optimal solution will differ between mills and the local, technical, environmental and economic conditions for a specific case can cause the results to change, in both ranking and absolute terms. In general we have found that:
The best choice from an energy perspective would be either the waste heat driven plants or the MP or MVR driven ones. None of these alternatives increase the total heating or cooling demands. For the waste-heat-driven plants the cooling will occur at a lower temperature than before though, and the MP and MVR-driven ones both decrease the net production of electricity.

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The results indicate that waste-heat-driven plants are economically reasonable under most conditions, and should always be considered. Compared to the other preevaporation plants discussed, waste-heat integrated options will be favourable in mills with large amounts of high-temperature excess heat available, low investment costs for the evaporators and high investment costs for increased cooling demand. In mills with smaller waste-heat sources, integrating parts of the pre-evaporation demand can be an interesting solution. The results also indicate that using a heat pump, as is done in the MVR alternatives, can be a highly interesting alternative. The MVR-driven plants are economically attractive under several economic conditions and flexible from a technical point of view. It is also a stand-alone solution. By choosing a MVR-driven plant instead of a waste heat driven plant, the waste heat can be used for other purposes, like district heating. The MP-driven plant will have costs similar to the MVR-plant and the benefit of not having a compressor with moving parts, but will on the other hand have more effects than the MVR-driven plant.

Environmental limitations, insufficient cooling capacity, and other departments of the mill competing for the use of waste heat, are issues not addressed in this work, but may play an important role when comparing the different pre-evaporation plants. For a deeper and total understanding of the energy system in a future mill, energy-strategic planning through pinch analysis including all parts of the mill therefore will be motivated. Finally, the results presented are based on a model mill with several assumptions made, and show only the technical and economic consequences for the energy system. In reality, preevaporation of bleach plant filtrates, and the recycling of non-process elements connected with it, is still a relatively undocumented technology, with several important technical and environmental issues left to be resolved.

ACNOWLEDGEMENTS The work presented in this paper is part of a project on Energy Potential within the Eco Cyclic Pulp Mill Programme, financed by MISTRA, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research. The vision in this programme is an eco cyclic pulp mill producing high-quality products, using as much as possible of the energy and biomass potential in the raw material entering the mill. The main aim in the project on Energy Potential is to identify efficient energy systems in the minimum-impact mill that are economically and technically attractive.

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REFERENCES 1. Gleadow P. L., Vice K., Johnson A. P., Sorenson D. R., and Hastings C. R., Mill applications of closed-cycle technology, International Non-Chlorine Bleaching Conference, Orlando, FL (1996). Annergren G., Boman M., and Sandstrm P., Towards the Closed Bleach Plant, International Conference on Available Techniques, SPCI, Stockholm (1996). Kinell P., Strm K. E., and Swan B., Sustainable Development in Stora Pulp Mills, International Conference on Available Techniques, SPCI, Stockholm (1996). Lindeberg O., Lidn J., Ahlenius L., and Svensson G., Concurrent Bleaching and Metal Management by Addition of EDTA to a Chlorine Dioxide Stage, International Conference on Available Techniques, SPCI, Stockholm (1996). Larsson P., Malmstrm J., and Igerud L., TCF at Vr Pulp Mill - Development and Experiences, International Conference on Available Techniques, SPCI, Stockholm (1996). Vlttil O., Tappi Pulping Conference, Chicago, October 1995. Personal communication with Sandstrm E., STORA, Sweden. Algehed J., Pre-evaporation of bleach plant filtrates, Institutionen fr Vrmeteknik och maskinlra, Chalmers University of Technology, 1996 (In Swedish). Zaman A., Wight M. O., Fricke A. L., TAPPI Journal 77(8):175(1994). Kocurek M. J., Grace T. M., Malcolm E., Alkaline Pulping vol 5, TAPPI PRESS, p. 481. Hultin S. O., 1968 Symposium on Recovery of Pulping Chemicals, IUPAC-EUCEPA, p177, 179. VDI Vrmeatlas vol 4 1984, p. Ja 9. Persson L., Kemisk Tidskrift 9, (1987). Personal communication with Lindberg T., Kvaerner Pulping, Sweden. Bliem C. J., Mills J. I., Chappell R. N., DOE-report no. EGG-2408. Wimmerstet R., STU-report 81-3018, 1982. Koistinen P. R., TAPPI Minimum Effluent Mills Symposium, Atlanta, Ga., 1996. Personal communication with Wimby M., Kvaerner Pulping, Sweden. Linhoff, B. et al, Users guide on process integration for the efficient use of energy, IChemE, Rugby, U. K. 1982. Wising U., Full scale pre-evaporation of bleach plant filtrates at AssiDomn Frvi, Institutionen fr Vrmeteknik och maskinlra, Chalmers University of Technology, 1999 (In Swedish).

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6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Received: May 26, 1998 Accepted: May 18, 1999 This paper was accepted for abstracting and publication in the September issue of TAPPI JOURNAL.

2000 TAPPI JOURNAL PEER REVIEWED PAPER

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