Metris FOX - Online quality index for pulp
Up until relatively recently, bonding and fiber strength when producing pulp could only be measured in a laboratory, which means time, expense, and delayed results, as often the pulp is already made when the tests are being carried out. ANDRITZ’s Fiber Online Index has changed all that and provides a tool for real-time monitoring of pulp quality.
“This was a real problem for us originally,” says Ismo Nousiainen, CEO (as of January 2018), Metsä Fibre, “Pulp samples were sent to a laboratory and we would only see the results around a week later. It was often the case that our customers had already used the pulp by the time we had the results.
“The driver for the development of the quality index was the lack of online measurement for pulp refining properties. We were getting online measurements for brightness, fiber length, and dark spots on our lines, but at the time refining properties were based on samples for the laboratory. We wanted to develop an online quality index that correlates refining results and gives customers information about our pulp performance in their processes.”
To solve the problem, Metsä Fibre developed a quality online index of its own in 2012. The new tool was so good that it was recognized in 2014 when the index won a quality award in Finland. Subsequently, the measuring technology and calculation method Metsä Fibre developed has now been acquired by ANDRITZ and rolled out under the brand Metris FOX (Fiber Online Index), which it continues to develop further.
