When Tilda Nordin graduated with an engineering degree in January 2006, she found a job immediately. A successful thesis project resulted in permanent employment at SCA Packaging in Obbola, just south of Umeå, Sweden.
Today, Tilda is employed as an automation engineer in pulp and paper production at the plant in Obbola.
“It is an open and creative job in which I can tackle specific problems and try to solve them in the best possible manner. It often involves optimization of various processes. Currently, for example, I am looking at how to gain more uniform pulp quality from the cooking process,” says Tilda Nordin.
Achieving greater energy and raw material efficiency is a key element in Tilda’s ongoing assignments.
Problems with bark boiler
The path to permanent employment was via a summer job and a thesis project involving the dryer section of the paper machine at the end of the production process. Process steam from the soda boiler is insufficient and, consequently, a biofuel bark boiler is used as a complement.
“When I had a summer job at the plant in 2003 I operated the bark boiler. So I knew there was a problem with output efficiency and high discharge of nitrous oxides,” relates Tilda Nordin.
So, after a year of maternal leave, when it was time to complete her thesis work for graduation, she just called SCA in Obbola and presented her idea – to develop a solution to reduce the discharge and increased output efficiency of the boiler. The answer to Tilda was that she was welcome try.
“I started by studying the theory of how this type of air-driven boiler should be operated and then prepared a test plan with a number of changes in operating procedures.
Control of fuel levels
After a series of full-scale tests it was nevertheless clear that something was lacking. The performance of boiler continued to be uneven. Further detective work revealed that the key to the solution was in the boiler’s fuel levels.
“Eventually, I found a couple of variables that described the fuel amounts favorably. As a result, I was able to develop a model of how the boiler should be operated with high output and with the lowest possible emission of nitrous oxides.
And this concluded her thesis work. However, the practical application remained and Tilda was able to take charge of this in her new position as automation engineer. The bark boiler was equipped with automatic control of the fuel supply and air input, in accordance with the model Tilda developed in her trials.
Result of Tilda’s thesis work
With optimal operations of the bark boiler, the emission of nitrous oxides declined from 100 to 70 milligrams per megajoule. The efficiency of the process increased from 50 to 60 tons of steam per hour.
PERSONAL FACTS
Name: Tilda Nordin
Age: 27
Education: BSc Eng, Energy Technology, Umeå University
Position: Automation engineer at SCA Packaging in Obbola
Family: Partner Henrik, children Ossian, 4, and Elsa, 1
Lives: Apartment in Holmsund
Recreation: Family, fitness training, sewing children’s clothes
Text: Susanna Lidström