Value of Improved Chip Quality to the Pulp Mill Operation, 2000 Pulping / Process & Product Quality Conference Proceedings

A. King--Georgia-Pacific Corporation has made great strides in the past five years to improve chip quality to the pulp mills with the addition of regional Chip Quality Managers. In 1999, the Toledo containerboard mill continued the improvement of their chip quality with a team effort supported by the corporation’s Mill Improvement Process (MIP). MIP is used to promote continuous improvement throughout the papermaking process. The team consisted of pulp mill employees and wood procurement/chip quality employees and the cross-functionality proved to be a success. With Kraft pulp production limited by a recovery area bottleneck, the importance of optimum wood yield and reduced black liquor solids is magnified. Numerous advancements were made to assist the pulp mill’s need for high quality fiber, including gathering data on the yield and packing density of each chip fraction. This data was used to aid in development of a chip quality model of suppliers and in evaluation of mill-site chip degradation. The addition of this information on specific chip fractions aids the Chip Quality Manager in targeting the optimum chips from our suppliers, aids wood procurement in choosing the best suppliers, and aids the mill in justifying a capital project to decrease chip degradation.