Search

How to Manage Safety in Today’s Changed Work Environment, TAPPICon25

Validation of a continuous digester anodic protection system

Introduction to Fitness-For-Service applications for the Pulp & Paper Industry, TAPPICon25

Case study: Long-term solution for stopping and preventing stress corrosion cracking in two-vessel digester system, TAPPICon25

Unlocking the Power of Advanced Data Analytics: Techniques and Practical Strategies for Successful Implementations Panel Discussion, TAPPICon25

Beyond KPIs: Harnessing the Power of Data Obscurity, TAPPICon25

Functional Lignin-Based Barrier Coatings for Paper Packaging, TAPPICon25

Recycled Food and Beverage Cartons as a Replacement for Declining Traditional Feedstock in Molded Pulp Production, TAPPICon25

Optimization of energy efficiency and condensate production in evaporation plants for a modern softwood pulp mill, TAPPI Journal April 2026

ABSTRACT: To meet the need to further improve thermal efficiency and environmental performance of kraft pulp mills, new systems and techniques have been developed within the evaporation plant. This paper describes these novel approaches and how they were implemented in a project completed in 2018 for a new evaporator and condensate treatment system supplied by Valmet at the SCA Östrand market pulp mill in Sweden. This project was part of a stepwise upgrade of the complete mill to increase the production capacity of the mill from 430,000 to 900,000 air-dried metric tons/year (ADt/y). As part of this upgrade, the mill had the objectives to increase the energy efficiency of the pulp mill and to minimize the air emissions as much as possible, the effluent volume, and the water usage in the mill. The mill also wanted to have the disposal of the biosludge in the black liquor, and the production of tall oil from black liquor soap, liquid methanol, and turpentine. This required that the new evaporation and condensate treatment system be very closely integrated into the other process departments of the mill, including integration of the hot weak black liquor flash vapor from the digester directly into the evaporator train and the production of multiple streams of clean evaporation plant condensate at the correct temperature for the bleach plant. Heat and mass balance calculation values, which were found to do very well in predicting the effect on actual mill operation, are also presented in this paper.

Biphasic 1-butanol/water delignification of miscanthus for manufacturing papermaking pulp, TAPPI Journal August 2026

ABSTRACT: Miscanthus has emerged as a promising nonwoody fiber source for papermaking and fiber molding as the world has sought alternatives to wood-based products. A diverse range of chemistries have been explored at the laboratory scale to turn nonwoody biomass into fibers; however, few have been successful at pilot or commercial scales. An emerging organosolv delignification chemistry that has demonstrated previous technical success is butanol/water, having been shown to produce papers with similar properties to other, more conventional chemistries, but offering the benefit of a built-in sugar and lignin coproduct separation. While a range of fiber lengths were achieved (0.45•0.95 mm), addition of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to the butanol/water delignification chemistry resulted in fiber lengths comparable to commercially available hardwood pulps (0.7•1.0 mm). Lignin concentration was reduced from 19.1 wt% in the raw miscanthus to under 3.5 wt% for most trials. The lowest lignin concentration (2.5 wt%) was achieved at 180°C for 180 min with 50:50 butanol:water and 2 wt% acetic acid. Yet, the high severity of this condition (and similar ones) resulted in a significant truncation of fiber length, which is detrimental for papermaking applications. The highest quality pulp for papermaking was generated at 180°C for 180 min with 50:50 butanol:water and 10 wt% NaOH. This pulp had one of the longest fiber lengths, the highest brightness, and the highest hemicellulose concentration. Thus, butanol/water delignification, especially with NaOH addition, resulted in the successful production of cellulose-rich pulps that have potential in commercial papermaking and fiber molding applications.