Measurement of Reduction Efficiency in Green Liquor Using a NIR Spectrometer

Sammanfattning: Domsjö Fabriker has earlier installed a Near Infrared (NIR) spectrometer after one of their recovery boilers. The purpose is to monitor the reduction efficiency of the boiler and later do process optimization. In this work calibration models for the instrument have been created. 108 green liquor samples have been extracted. A NIR spectrum was recorded for each sample and the samples were subsequently analyzed in laboratory for total alkali, sulfide and total sulfur. Several calibration models were created with multivariate data analysis and their performance and robustness were compared. The best model was able to predict reduction efficiency with a RMSEP of 2.75 percent units. Moreover, models were created for prediction of total alkali with a RMSEP of 0.108 mol/l, sulfides with a RMSEP of 1.95 g/l, total sulfur with a RMSEP of 2.83 g/l and S/Na2 ratio with a RMSEP of 0.022. The result is good enough that the instrument could be used to optimize the process and monitor process disturbances.