The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Holmen’s Workington paperboard mill reports that installing Heat Management’s HISS Advanced automation on 37 steam sootblowers cut sootblowing steam from 11.4 to 6.3 tonnes per cycle—a 45% reduction. The same project shortened each cleaning cycle from two hours to one hour and was associated with approximately 1.0 MWe more generator output at similar fuel consumption.
What changed at the Workington boiler
The installation was completed and started in November 2025 on Workington’s existing 150 MWth Andritz bubbling-fluidized-bed (BFB) biomass boiler. The boiler supplies the mill’s electricity and process steam. Holmen’s earlier project description said the plant was designed for about 325 GWh of electricity and 420 GWh of thermal energy annually.
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| Measure | Before HISS Advanced | After installation | Reported change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sootblowing steam per cycle | 11.4 tonnes | 6.3 tonnes | 45% lower |
| Cleaning-cycle duration | Two hours | One hour | 50% shorter |
| Average generator output | Baseline | Approximately 1.0 MWe higher | Higher at similar fuel consumption |
| Boiler electrical efficiency | Baseline | Not stated as an absolute value | 0.62 percentage points higher |
| Boiler tube leaks or unplanned downtime | Not stated | No known incidents reported since installation | Customer and supplier observation |
The steam figures are the Workington-specific results reported by Heat Management in 2026. They are not a guaranteed result for every boiler, because savings depend on furnace design, deposits, sootblower layout, operating load and control integration.
How HISS Advanced is described
HISS is an automation approach for steam sootblowing. Instead of operating every sootblower through a conventional, fully sequential routine, the system uses one-way sootblowing and overlapping sootblower operation. The intent is to remove deposits effectively while reducing the time that steam is being admitted.
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Heat Management’s technical material describes typical HISS operation as reducing sootblowing time and steam by about 45% to 50% per cycle. That range is a vendor-level product claim; Workington’s measured-in-the-case-study result is the more specific evidence for this plant: 11.4 to 6.3 tonnes per cycle and a one-hour cycle.
Why lower sootblowing steam can affect power output
Sootblowing consumes steam that could otherwise contribute to the plant’s steam and power balance. At Workington, the reported reduction occurred alongside approximately 1.0 MWe higher average generator output while fuel consumption remained similar. Heat Management also reported a 0.62-percentage-point improvement in boiler electrical efficiency.
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These figures describe an operating comparison reported for the project, not a controlled independent performance trial. They indicate that reducing cleaning-steam demand and managing furnace heat-transfer surfaces can improve the usable energy balance, but the size of any gain at another plant must be established from its own baseline data.
Reliability and fallback operation
Workington personnel reported no known tube leaks and no unplanned boiler downtime since installation, with key operating values remaining in the expected range. Oliver Dyer, project engineer, said the mill had experienced no issues with the HISS automation or actuators and considered the system reliable based on experience to date.
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An important design feature is the ability to revert to the previous sootblowing logic if HISS is temporarily unavailable. That fallback allows the CHP plant to continue operating while an automation or actuator issue is investigated, rather than making the new control layer a single point of failure. James Long, boiler and turbine manager, said the mill had seen no known tube leaks since installation and that performance appeared no different from normal operation apart from the expected operating values.
What plant operators should assess before comparing solutions
Workington’s result is most useful as a set of comparison metrics rather than a universal promise. Operators evaluating sootblowing optimization should request like-for-like evidence in the following areas:
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- Steam saved per cycle: Ask for measured tonnes per cycle, the baseline period and the boiler load at which the figures were recorded.
- Cycle duration: Confirm whether a shorter cycle changes cleaning coverage, furnace availability or maintenance windows.
- Cleanliness and tube condition: Check deposit levels, heat-transfer performance, tube-erosion inspections and tube-leak history.
- Power and efficiency: Separate fuel effects, seasonal changes and production changes from the control system’s contribution.
- DCS integration: Establish required signals, interlocks, permissives, alarm handling and commissioning work with the plant’s existing control system.
- Fallback operation: Verify that operators can return to the previous sootblowing sequence safely and quickly.
- Evidence quality: Distinguish supplier case studies and customer statements from independently audited or peer-reviewed results.
Is HISS Advanced an Amazon product?
No. HISS Advanced is an industrial sootblowing-automation system supplied for utility and process boilers. The Workington project involved engineering and commissioning on a 150 MWth biomass boiler and its 37 steam sootblowers; it is not a consumer boiler-cleaning device or an off-the-shelf marketplace product.
What the Workington case establishes
The strongest documented outcome is a 45% reduction in sootblowing steam per cycle, from 11.4 to 6.3 tonnes, together with a cycle cut from two hours to one. The project also reports approximately 1.0 MWe higher average generator output at similar fuel use and a 0.62-percentage-point efficiency improvement. Reliability observations are encouraging, but they remain supplier/customer reporting rather than the findings of a published independent audit.
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