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New Handbook Assists Paper Mills to Achieve Efficient Operation through Utilization of Process Chemicals
Process Chemicals for Papermaking Now Available From TAPPI Press
Information Resource Library
In 1983, James d'A Clark donated his personal library to TAPPI. Combined with the association's existing materials, The James d'A Clark Information Resource Center was established in conjunction with the opening of the new TAPPI Headquarters in Atlanta.
Kraft pulp viscosity as a predictor of paper strength: Its uses and abuses, TAPPI Journal October 2023
ABSTRACT: For bleached kraft pulps, two factors govern paper strength: the individual fiber strength, and the bond strength that adheres the individual fibers together in the paper matrix. Inherent fiber strength is related to the length of the carbohydrate polymers, also known as the degree of polymerization (DP). Average DP (DP) is inferred by performing pulp viscosity measurements. Under certain circumstances during kraft pulping and bleaching, the average polymer lengths can be shortened, resulting in lower pulp viscosity, and may indicate fiber damage. Fiber damage typically manifests itself as a reduction in tear strength for well-bonded handsheets.This paper will review the literature on how pulp viscosity can predict paper/fiber strength and how it can be used as a diagnostic tool. It can be a means to monitor pulp quality during pulping and bleaching, as well as to alert when such operations approach a critical threshold. However, viscosity losses must be carefully and judiciously analyzed. Like most diagnostic tools, viscosity measurements can be misused and abused, which can lead to incorrect inferences about intrinsic fiber strength. This review will also cover these misuses. The overall goal is to provide the papermaker a better understanding of what pulp viscosity is, how it correlates to potential sheet strength, and what its limitations are. It will be illustrated that when pulp viscosity drops below a critical value, it will indicate an appreciable deterioration in the paper’s tear and tensile strength.
Evaluation of soap recovery efficiency from black liquor — analytical tools, TAPPI Journal April
ABSTRACT: Soap skimmings (“soap”) are typically recovered from black liquor in kraft mills that process a high percentage of softwood. In many mills, the recovery of soap is inefficient, negatively impacting performance of evaporators and recovery boilers and resulting in loss of potential revenue. A thorough evaluation of soap recovery performance in a kraft mill requires measurement of soap content in black liquor at various sampling locations, especially around the soap skimmer.The standard laboratory method for evaluating soap content in black liquor is a complex, multi-step process that relies on solvent extraction and titration; most mills send these samples to an outside laboratory for this analysis. In this study, 100 black liquor samples, with a wide range of soap concentrations, were tested by the standard solvent extraction method. After additional dilution, each sample was also tested for surface tension with a bubble pressure tensiometer. The results were found to correlate very closely with the solvent extraction tests results. This alternate method, using surface tension measurements of diluted black liquor samples, produces rapid results and can be easily implemented in most kraft mills, which would facilitate much more frequent in-house evaluations of soap recovery performance.
A new method of studying the fundamental mechanisms involved in pigment liberation from recycle papers, TAPPI Journal October 2022
ABSTRACT: Deinking flotation is the most efficient and widely used method of removing ink particles from printed papers to improve the recyclability. A prerequisite for successful deinking flotation is detachment of pigments from paper fibers, a subprocess known as liberation. The degree of liberation is usually determined via hyperwashing tests, which are costly and time consuming. Furthermore, they provide no information on the fundamental mechanisms controlling liberation. In the present work, we developed a new method in which ?-potentials of the particles in a pulp are measured and analyzed. If pigments are not liberated from paper fibers, a frequency distribution plot gives a single peak, while two peaks appear when they are liberated. One can readily determine the degrees of liberation from the peak positions and peak heights. In addition, the ?-potential data can be used to construct disjoining pressure isotherms using the DLVO theory that are useful to better understand the fundamental mechanisms involved and the roles of different reagents used to improve pigment liberation.
Journal articles
Magazine articles
Application of spruce wood flour as a cellulosic-based wood additive for recycled paper applications— A pilot paper machine study, TAPPI Journal October 2021
ABSTRACT: This study gives a first insight into the use of wood flour as a plant-based and cellulosic-based alter-native additive for newsprint and paperboard production using 100% recycled fibers as a raw material. The study compares four varieties of a spruce wood flour product serving as cellulosic-based additives at addition rates of 2%, 4%, and 6% during operation of a 12-in. laboratory pilot paper machine. Strength properties of the produced news-print and linerboard products were analyzed. Results suggested that spruce wood flour as a cellulosic-based additive represents a promising approach for improving physical properties of paper and linerboard products made from 100% recycled fiber content. This study shows that wood flour pretreated with a plant-based polysaccharide and untreated spruce wood flour product with a particle size range of 20 μm to 40 μm and 40 μm to 70 μm can increase the bulk and tensile properties in newsprint and linerboard applications.
Journal articles
Magazine articles
Corrosion damage and in-service inspection of retractable sootblower lances in recovery boilers, TAPPI Journal October 2021
ABSTRACT: Several reports of accidents involving serious mechanical failures of sootblower lances in chemical recovery boilers are known in the pulp and paper industry. These accidents mainly consisted of detachment and ejection of the lance tip, or even of the entire lance, to the inside of the furnace, towards the opposite wall. At least one of these cases known to the author resulted in a smelt-water explosion in the boiler.In other events, appreciable damage or near-miss conditions have already been experienced. The risk of catastrophic consequences of the eventual detachment of the lance tip or the complete lance of a recovery boiler soot-blower has caught the attention of manufacturers, who have adjusted their quality procedures, but this risk also needs to be carefully considered by the technical staff at pulp mills and in industry committees.This paper briefly describes the failure mechanisms that prevailed in past accidents, while recommending inspection and quality control policies to be applied in order to prevent further occurrences of these dangerous and costly component failures. Digital radiography, in conjunction with other well known inspection techniques, appears to be an effective means to ensure the integrity of sootblower lances in chemical recovery boilers used in the pulp and paper industry.
Journal articles
Magazine articles
Evaluation of the particle size of organosolv lignin in the
Evaluation of the particle size of organosolv lignin in the synthesis of resol resins for plywood and their performance on fire spreading, TAPPI JOURNAL July 2017
Journal articles
Magazine articles
Addition of corn stover arabinoxylan into hardwood during pu
Addition of corn stover arabinoxylan into hardwood during pulping for improved physical properties, TAPPI JOURNAL September 2017
Journal articles
Magazine articles
Flow rheology of light foams generated from aqueous solutions of polyvinyl alcohol, TAPPI Journal January 2023
ABSTRACT: Recent studies have shown that foam-assisted application of additives into a wet web has advantages over the conventional way of adding the chemicals into the pulp suspension before forming, e.g., increased mechanical retention as well as high dosage giving increased wet strength without impairing the sheet uniformity. To engineer processes utilizing this new technology, the complex flow behavior of applied foams must be quantified. At the minimum, the foam viscosity and the slip velocity at the solid surfaces need to be known to build practical models that can be used in analyzing and upscaling unit processes of the foam-assisted application.In this study, the rheological behavior was quantified for foams having polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH), a widely used strength additive chemical, as the surfactant. The foam density was varied between 100 g/L and 300 g/L, and the concentration of the PVOH solution was varied between 0.5% and 6.0% (w/w). The foams were generated with a commercial foam generator, and the rheological properties of the foams were measured by using a horizontal pipe bank. At the outlet from the generator, the volumetric flow rate, the absolute pressure, and the bubble size distribution of the foam were measured. In the measurement pipe section, the viscous pressure gradient and the slip velocity were measured, after which the foam was discharged to ambient air pressure. The viscosity and the dynamic surface tension of the PVOH solutions were quantified with commercial laboratory devices. In the viscosity analysis, the apparent shear rate was calculated from the volumetric flow rate, and the resulting apparent viscosity was translated to real material viscosity data by applying the Weissenberg-Rabinowitsch correction. The results indicated that PVOH foams can be described with high accuracy as shear-thinning power-law fluids where the detailed behavior depends on the foam density and the PVOH concentration. Slip flow, as usual, increased with increasing wall shear stress, but it was also dependent on the PVOH concentration, the air content, and the bubble size. For both the foam viscosity and the slip flow, a correlation was found that described the quantitative behavior of all the studied foams with good accuracy.