Contamination Control at a Pulp & Paper Plant

If you have ever worked in or around a paper facility, you might be familiar with the steam, smell, pulp, and water that seem to be everywhere.

- 

As you can imagine, contamination control is extremely important for the equipment's reliability. So, focusing on reliability and contamination control will have a direct impact on production. And if you weren't aware, the folks on the carpet are really interested in that production stuff.

So, what can we do to ensure that we get as much of that coveted production as possible? First, we need to understand what is getting into our machines and what it does to them.

Understanding Contamination Sources

In the bustling corridors of a paper mill, contaminants lurk around every corner, ready to wreak havoc on our lubricants and equipment. From airborne dust to moisture infiltration, these silent saboteurs can spell trouble for our machinery's longevity and efficiency. With a keen eye and strategic planning, we can identify these trouble makers and implement measures to keep them at bay. So, let's focus on some of the most common contaminants we face in paper production.

Moisture Management Strategies

Moisture is part of the process, so we can't eliminate it from the working environment, but we can try our best to prevent it from coming into contact with the internals of our equipment. Both reservoirs (gearboxes and hydraulics) and bearings are very susceptible to damage from moisture. Water gets into these locations, and it starts to rust the equipment, break down the lubricants, sacrifice the lubricating film, and can even lead to bacterial growth within our equipment. For reservoirs, mitigating water ingression doesn't have to be really difficult. We have to look at how the water gets in there, how to judge when water is in there, and how we get it out. I'll save the last part of that, getting it out, for a little later.