Company Profile:At Full Steam | |
The new gas and steam turbine of Sappi Gratkorn turned one of the biggest Styrian companies from an energy consumer to a producer. TÜV AUSTRIA put the steam pipes between the turbines through their paces with a new form of sound emission test.
The industrial location of Gratkorn became the scene of a memorable launch in August of last year. Sappi Gratkorn officially inaugurated the operation of the new gas and steam turbine (GuD). This means nothing more than the commissioning of a power station which can produce more than one tenth of the energy consumption of Styria.
With an investment of 50 million Euro Sappi Gratkorn managed to change from an electricity buyer to an energy supplier. Before about 35 to 40 % of the electricity requirement of 720 GWh per annum had to be bought from outside, the rest was produced internally through plants with combined heat and power (KWK) and small hydroelectric power stations (KWKW). Since the summer of last year there was an end to that: The total production with the new GuD plant is up to 900 GWh, of which up to 180 GWh can be fed into the grid.
"With our new plant we provide for all our own electricity requirements and also feed electricity into the public grid“, says Max Oberhumer, works director of the paper and pulp factory. The background for this development were the high energy costs which lead to enormous expenses especially in energy-intensive factories like those of the pulp and paper industry. “We save up to ten million Euro per annum” - that’s how the boss of 1 300 employees explains the economic considerations of the GuD investment.
In spite of the enormous capital expenditure an amortisation period of five years is an acceptable time span in times of turbulent energy policies. The plant has an efficiency rate of up to 90 % and its technology is absolute state of the art. Mr. Oberhumer explains the ecologically relevant consequences: “It has the lowest specific CO2 emission of all types of energy to be considered.”
Paper production is an energy-intensive process: The enormous paper machine 11 alone has 60 drying cylinders in which the viscous pulp is dried in seconds. The machine in Gratkorn produces 100 t of paper per hour, which is used for high-quality purposes such as magazine printing, art prints and graphic print catalogues. With a total production of 250 000 t of pulp and 900 000 t of wood free coated papers Gratkorn is one of the biggest locations in this field worldwide.
Load problems
The cooperation on the new GuD plant is a major technical challenge for TÜV AUSTRIA.
The experts of the Graz office under Klaus Strunz had to find a solution for an unexpected problem: Pipes were installed between the gas and steam turbines on a specially constructed bridge over a length of 250 metres. During the preparations for the first pressure test of the pipes it was found that the traditional testing method by means of the water pressure tests would be impossible in this case. One had to reckon with static problems on the bridge due to the liquid test medium’s own weight. The water needed was to heavy for the steam pipes.
Several experts of TÜV AUSTRIA had to “develop a procedure which would bring a low weight load onto the pipe bridge with the same result”. On took into consideration various techniques from other test areas to solve the weight problem. After several initial tests the air pressure test with accompanying sound emission tests turned out to be the most promising solution. The challenge consisted in generating the required test pressure for 250 metres of pipes with a diameter of up to one metre.
“We were able to produce the necessary test condition with TÜV’s own compressors and some trials“, says Mr Schauritsch (TÜV AUSTRIA), a specialist for sound emission tests who is recognized all over Europe. 30 sensors supplied the required monitoring data for testing weld seams and other potential ruptures for their stability under overstraining. The sound emission tests in the new GuD plant in Gratkorn were completed in just two days.
Safeguarding the local industry
With the new GuD plant the biggest paper factory of the Sappi group has solved the pressing costs problem in energy questions. The position of Gratkorn in the global competition of the paper industry was improved sustainably in this way. The Styria company is world-wide amongst the producers of wood-free coated papers of the highest quality. The cost leaders however are nowadays to be found in other countries. Works director Max Oberhummer: “We are struggling every day with general conditions which place us at a great disadvantage vis-a-vis our competitors”.
The setting-up of a biogenic power station for example would have received in any other EU location “10 - 12 million of subsidies. In Austria we are not being considered by the Aids Committee of industrial biomass power stations by the Eco-electricity Act”. This was in the end also the reason why a gas turbine was installed instead of a biomass power plant.
Apart from the missing subsidies we would also have had to pay grid transmission charges for feeding electricity into the grid for the electricity to be procured from the grid.
The Eco-electricity Act has been a red rag for the representatives of the paper industry since it came into effect in 2002: Because of the promotion of biomass for private and communal consumption the sector has had to fight a shortage of the raw material wood. “As a consequence of the Eco-electricity Act high-grade and expensive raw material is being burnt instead of being recycled. This policy on subsidies leads to massive distortions of competition”, Mr. Oberhumer states.
An intensive discussion of the topics of wood mobilization and wood harvest programmes could restore the market balance. The momentary increase of the wood on offer as a consequence of the storm catastrophes Kyrill and Paula could not lead to a structural correction of the situation. At present only one third to 50 % of the annual increase of wood in Austria is actually being used.
Globalised plant
The new GuD power station is proof of the globalised market conditions under which the paper industry is working. The gas turbine comes from Sweden, the steam turbine from Brasil, the steam boilers come from Denmark and Poland. There was at times a Babylonian mambo-jambo amongst the up to 280 technicians from 19 nations who were working simultaneously on the site, but there were no misunderstandings. Gratkorn project leader Herbert Habersatter could not only keep all deadlines, but also managed the second target: The construction time of two years for the gas and steam turbines with 320 000 workings hours passed without a single industrial accident.
GESCHICHTE
1585 Druckerei Widtmannstetter in Graz / Austria gegründet
1793 Andreas Leykam kauft die Leuzendorfer Papierfabrik
1870 “Actien-Gesellschaft für Papier- und Druckindustrie Leykam-Josefsthal” gegründet
1974 Zusammenschluss zu “Leykam-Mürztaler Papier und Zellstoff Aktiengesellschaft”
1994 Merger “KNP LEYKAM”: Die Leykam-Mürztaler Papier und Zellstoff AG wird mit den Papierdivisionen der niederländischen KNP BT verschmolzen.
1997 Sappi erwirbt KNP LEYKAM: Die Sappi Holding des südafrikanischen Papierkonzerns Sappi Ltd. übernimmt in Österreich die Papierfabrik in Gratkorn (Steiermark). Die Division Sappi Fine Paper ist der weltweit größte Anbieter an holzfrei gestrichenen Papieren mit einer Jahresproduktion von 2,5 Mio. t. Gratkorn ist unter den sieben Sappi-Standorten mit 900.000 jato mit Abstand der größte. Die Sappi Holding mit Sitz in Johannesburg beschäftigt weltweit 16.000 Mitarbeiter und ist in mehr als 100 Ländern der Erde aktiv.
