Optimization of the Pulp Mill Economical Efficiency: Study on the Behaviour Effect of the Economically Significant Variables

Aim for optimization of the Pulp Mill economical efficiency is to find the steady state, which maximizes the profit rate of the whole plant including energy costs, cooking and bleaching chemicals costs and taking into account delignification and brightness requirements. The construction of approximations of the economically significant variables as functions of the decision variables (setpoints) plays the key role in the optimization. In this paper, the linear and quadratic approximation approaches are studied, the optimization results compared and discussed.