Vortex flowmeters increases OEE

for Turkish pulp & paper company

  • Vortex flowmeters increases OEE
    Vortex flowmeters increases OEE
  • Vortex flowmeters increases OEE
    Vortex flowmeters increases OEE
  • Vortex flowmeters increases OEE
    Vortex flowmeters increases OEE

Multivariable Vortex meters allow a Pulp & Paper company in Turkey to perform accurate measurement of saturated steam and consequently optimize plant efficiency, reduce energy bill, and increase safety and maintenance performances.

Halkali Kagit is one of the leading Pulp & Paper companies in Turkey. Founded in 1976, the company operates a 50.000 square meters installation in Istanbul, with over 175 employees, producing high quality texture paper for green carton, mainly dedicated to the internal Turkish market. As one of the 1000 main companies of Turkey, Halkali Kagit is rated at the 730th place according to the total yearly revenue.

The plant, located in the district of Halkali, made during the last 10 years, continuous investments aiming to increase the production throughput, paper quality and the presence of the company in a market that shows a very promising outlook with a projected growth of 10%  in the 5 coming years.
The production facility is endowed with a Tuma Turbomach cogeneration plant, implemented in year 2002 in order to increase plant efficiency, improve produced steam quality, increase electric energy production stability, and finally enhance paper quality.

The Halkali Kagit challenge:
Recently, the company investigated the possibility to improve plant efficiency through optimization of the steam usage in various sections of the plant. By understanding the relationship between costs and revenues, Halkali Kagit aimed to calculate the true energy cost per unit of produced paper. During this study, it become clear that the in-place steam measurement, based on dP principle, was unreliable and inaccurate, leading to incorrect cost calculations and resulting in profitability losses. Therefore the company was looking for a more accurate steam measurement technology.

Halkali Kagit already experienced Emerson Process Management as a reliable partner and was extremely satisfied about previous cooperation on implementation of Emerson’s technologies in the Istanbul site and consequently was willing to collaborate with Emerson for this critical project. The consultative approach followed by Emerson in the early phase of this project was greatly valued by the company.

Emerson introduced their Rosemount 8800D Multivariable Vortex Flowmeter, with integral temperature measurement for mass flow measurement of saturated steam. The solution made by Emerson does not present crevices nor ports and has no leak points. The clog-free design guarantees reliability of the measurement even in case of dirty process fluid and the absence of leak points makes the measurement more safe to operate and reduces the complexity of the installation.

The patented 8800D design presents the flow sensor housed in a secondary containment, and the temperature sensor judiciously located into the shedder bar, the shedder bar acting as a thermo-well for the temperature sensor. This innovative construction, both the sensor and temperature sensors being non-wetted (no contact with the process fluid), ensures that maintenance operation, if required, can be made externally without a real need to shut down the process. At same time, the all-welded highly robust construction and the highest quality of the Rosemount Vortex meter, assure minimum maintenance works.

In the 8800D Multivariable Vortex meter, volume flow and temperature variables are driven to the transmitter, where the mass flow output of the saturated steam is elaborated. The result for the user is the highest reliable measurement of saturated steam, with the best-in-class accuracy performance, and the unique Rosemount Flow design for safest installation and best solution for maintenance.

Halkali Kagit benefits from the Rosemount 8800D technology and increases its plant efficiency
By implementing the Rosemount 8800D Multivariable Vortex and by analyzing the true production costs, the company identified that in some cases the costs of recipes of different paper quality were very different from what was previously estimated . Moreover the accurate steam measurement allowed to determining the base cost of each production batch.

With a more accurate picture of the production variables, Halkali Kagit understood how to optimize different kind of paper production and reduce energy wastes. The total use of steam has been reduced by circa 20% thanks to a more accurate steam balance of the different units of the plant. Clearly, the total cost of energy has been drastically reduced by the same value. Further to the outstanding savings in their energy bill, the company has been able to increase their Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) by 5%.

The meters have shown optimum reliability (no failure has been reported in 6 months installation).  The company has also understood the potential benefits from the 8800D maintenance easiness, reducing maintenance operations by 4 hours as the 8800D does not require stopping the process compare to other vortex meters. Halkali Kagit estimates that this could help to increase the plant efficiency by 0,1% per each stop, if a maintenance requirement will happen.


Now that Halkali Kagit has gained a better understanding of the actual costs, the company is able to give a proper projection of the energy content of the paper they produce, and is better capable of driving their products and prices to the market.