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ABSTRACT: Laboratory experiments with bleached kraft furnish were carried out to quantify the effects of major differences in electrical conductivity of papermaking process water (due to the addition of sodium sulfate) on the performance of various paperm

ABSTRACT: Laboratory experiments with bleached kraft furnish were carried out to quantify the effects of major differences in electrical conductivity of papermaking process water (due to the addition of sodium sulfate) on the performance of various papermaking additives. Batches of refined pulp were prepared with conductivity levels of 168 (tap water), 1000, and 10,000 ìS/cm. The absolute values of the calculated zeta potential, in various cases, were shown to decrease with increasing logarithm of electrical conductivity. The performance of retention aid systems, including cationic polyacrylamide (cPAM), were not adversely affected by increased salinity, even up to an electrical conductivity level of 10,000 ìS/cm. In fact, treatment involving sequential addition of cPAM and colloidal silica showed superior retention of mineral filler at the highest conductivity level. Likewise, combinations of papermaking additives that promote the dewatering of paper continued to perform well in furnish prepared with increasing salinity. The ability of various chemical systems to induce flocculation among papermaking fibers decreased moderately at the highest level of salinity considered.

ABSTRACT: Water hardness, which can be defined as the concentration of calcium and magnesium ions, is known to vary greatly depending on geographical locations. Laboratory tests were carried out to evaluate effects of large differences in water hardness o

ABSTRACT: Water hardness, which can be defined as the concentration of calcium and magnesium ions, is known to vary greatly depending on geographical locations. Laboratory tests were carried out to evaluate effects of large differences in water hardness on the performance of certain wet-end additives to the paper machine process. Tests were carried out at hardness levels of 25, 125, and 225 ppm (as calcium carbonate equivalents). Increased water hardness was found to have a generally negative effect on the performance of a cationic acrylamide- type retention aid, although the extent of performance loss depended on experimental details. Likewise, rates of dewatering in systems containing cationic retention aid were adversely affected by increasing hardness, though the effects were not statistically significant in all cases considered. The tendency of bridge-forming flocculants (cationic retention aid or sequential addition of a cationic additive and then anionic retention aid) fell slightly with increasing water hardness.

Assessing lignin content in Nordic hardwood and softwood species using models based on near-infrared (NIR) spectral data and partial least squares regression (PLSR), TAPPI Journal September 2025

ABSTRACT: Continuous kraft cooking digesters face challenges affecting product quality, making it valuable to improve control through advanced techniques like near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, model predictive control, and machine learning models. The primary goal of this study was to use NIR spectra to predict the amount of lignin in hardwood and softwood samples. This study investigated the correlation of NIR derivative spectra with the amounts of lignin relative to other constituents, namely cellulose, hemicellulose, and water, in wood chip samples of varying chip sizes and shapes from six Nordic wood species. It employed partial least squares regression (PLSR) on the NIR data to construct a model that predicted the lignin fraction and the relative fraction of acid-soluble lignin. When trained on a group of five wood species, the model achieved a satisfactory predictive ability, striking a balance between a wide range of lignin content and a consistent chemical environment. The accuracy increased further when the model was restricted only to spruce and pine, reflecting the benefits of a more homogenous dataset. Additionally, the optimal number of latent variables was identified as two, indicating that three distinct chemical components — cellulose, lignin and water — can be effectively differentiated using NIR.

QCS Performance: Are you Safe, Reliable, and Optimized, and can you prove it?, TAPPICon25

Optimisation of optical coverage of board surfaces with assessment of light scattering and absorption using mineral as a coating component, TAPPICon25

Pigment loading level effects on water barrier properties in barrier coating formulations, TAPPICon25

Performance And Benefits Of Fiber Orientation CD Control with Bias Target Optimization, TAPPICon25

Energy and Emission Implications of Optimized White Liquor Chemistry, TAPPICon25

A Systems Thinking Approach: Institutional Memory Loss in Pulp and Paper Industry, TAPPICon25

Raw Material And Energy Savings On Tissue Machines With Low Capital Investment, TAPPICon25