Influence of process operating parameters on CO2 emissions in continuous industrial plants

There is a growing awareness of the need for environmental protection, and in this context, the control of CO2 emissions is particularly important. The use of environmental indicators to measure process efficiency can help to reduce the impact and pollution generated in manufacturing processes. This article features a case study that analyzes the influence of the main operating parameters of the paper production process (specifically the drying section) in CO2 emissions. The plant was selected on the basis of its current low levels of CO2 emissions, which are lower than established by the European Commission product benchmark for the type of paper produced. Based on the information gathered by factory quality control system, a general linear regression and an experiment were designed (orthogonal arrays of Taguchi). Through a multi-factorial analysis of variance for the indicator 'ton CO2/ton Paper' the study reveals that the surface density and outside temperature have significant influence on the process and on CO2 emissions and can be set a value to minimize CO2 emissions and maximize production in the facility bottleneck. Thus, CO2 emissions can be a good indicator of the operating status of the drying section. The study identified new lines of study, with which can be achieved the overall target of reducing energy consumption and CO2 air pollution associated with paper manufacturing process. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.