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Co-pulping of Trewia nudiflora and Trema orientalis, TAPPI Journal June 2023
ABSTRACT: Trewia nudiflora, a fast-growing species, was evaluated as a pulpwood. The a-cellulose content of this species was 40.4% with a Klason lignin of 21.5%. It was characterized by shorter fibers with a thin cell wall. The pulp yield was 40% with a kappa number of 16 at the conditions of 18% active alkali charge and 30% sulfidity for 2 h cooking at 170°C. T. nudiflora was similar to Trema orientalis in anatomical, morphological, and chemical composition; therefore, mixed chips at a 50:50 mixture ratio were cooked under optimum conditions. The pulp yield of mixed chip cooking was 45.4% with a kappa number of 19.4. The tensile and tear index of T. nudiflora pulps were 64.8 Nœm/g and 11.5 kPaœm2/g at 35 °SR, respectively. The mixed chips, T. nudiflora, and T. orientalis pulps showed above 81% brightness when bleached by D0(EP)D1 sequence using 20 kg chlorine dioxide (ClO2)/ton of pulp.
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Optimizing OCC refining with defloccing, TAPPI Journal April 2025
ABSTRACT: Subjecting pulp to a high shear zone immediately after refining results in more efficient refining. This phenomenon was originally observed to benefit softwood pulp refining. It was attributed to floc reduction based on floc measurements in mill refiners and the observation of reduced headbox plugging. Hence, this phenomenon has been termed “defloccing.” The present work shows this technology also benefits refining of North American old corrugated containers (OCC). The combined results of several mill trials with OCC defloccing demonstrate the interactions between OCC refining intensity, defloccing technology, and other state-of-the-art refining improvements. At the same refining intensity, defloccing OCC on 100% recycled machines increases OCC refining efficiency by 15%, with greater efficiency improvement on machines that use softwood as well as OCC. Furthermore, it is shown that the benefits of defloccing are additive to refining improvements made in the refining zone of a refiner plate. Most OCC refiner plate designs can therefore benefit from the addition of a defloccing feature.
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A feasibility study of using the organic Rankine cycle for power generation from the flue gases of recovery boilers, TAPPI Journal August 2022
ABSTRACT: Almost 415 tons/h of flue gases with a temperature of 160°C are released to the atmosphere from the recovery boiler of a pulp mill with capacity of 1000 air dried (a.d.) metric tons of pulp per day. This is a large waste heat stream that can be used to generate power, to decrease the operating costs of a pulp mill, and to save carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. In this work, the feasibility of using an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) with ammonia as the working fluid to generate power from the flue gases of recovery boilers is studied. CHEMCAD and Taguchi methods are used for simulation of the process and for optimization of operating conditions, respectively. The temperature of the ammonia and flue gases at the exit of evaporator, exit pressure of the pump and turbine, and the degree of subcooling of ammonia at the exit of the condenser are five operating parameters that are manipulated to optimize the process. Three different scenarios are defined: minimizing the net power cost, maximizing the ORC efficiency, and maximizing the net profit. Different aspects of these scenarios, such as net power generation, cost, efficiency, and CO2 emission savings are discussed, and optimum operating conditions are reported.
Journal articles
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Utilization of kraft pulp mill residuals, TAPPI Journal February 2022
ABSTRACT: Kraft pulp mills produce on average about 100 kg of solid residuals per metric ton of pulp produced. The main types of mill waste are sludge from wastewater treatment plants, ash from hog fuel boilers, dregs, grits, and lime mud from causticizing plants and lime dust from lime kilns. Of these, about half is disposed of in landfills, which highlights the need and potential for waste recycling and utilization. Sludge is either incinerated in hog fuel boilers to generate steam and power or used in various forms of land application, including land spreading, composting, or as an additive for landfill or mine waste covers. The majority of hog fuel boiler ash and causticizing plant residues is landfilled. Alkaline residuals can be conditioned for use in land application, manufacture of construction materials, and production of aggregates for road work. This technical review summarizes residuals utilization methods that have been applied in pulp and paper mills at demonstration- or full-scale, and therefore may act as a guide for mill managers and operators whose goal is to diminish the costs and the environmental impact of waste management.
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Review of coating cracking and barrier integrity on paperboard substrates, TAPPI Journal November 2022
ABSTRACT: Barrier packaging formats are major growth areas for the pulp and paper industry. It is technically challenging to maintain barrier properties during converting and end-use applications. Improved manufacturing capabilities and coating formulation knowledge will help maintain barrier integrity and enable growth of barrier products in challenging applications. These improvements will accelerate product development and commercialization, and allow faster response to product performance issues such as cracking. The literature on coating cracking provides knowledge mostly on the effects of coating formulations and to a lesser extent on substrate effects. Despite a large number of publications dedicated to coating failures, the approach to improve coating cracking remains empirical, and the transferability between studies and to real life applications has not been well established. Model development that successfully predicts commercial performance is in its infancy. However, some of these simplified models do a fairly good job predicting experimental data. The current work reviews the state of understanding as regards coating and barrier cracking and highlights the need for more research on cracking and barrier integrity.
Journal articles
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Utilization of palm fiber as papermaking materials: Microscopic structure and chemical pulping, TAPPI Journal October 2022
ABSTRACT: The microscopic structure and pulping properties of palm fiber were explored. Soda cooking and sulfate cooking were conducted and compared in terms of physical strength of the obtained pulps. Sulfate pulp showed better performance than soda pulp, as indicated by the 23% higher tensile index, 49% higher tear index, and 36% higher burst index. To further elevate physical strength, long fibered pulp (LFP), namely commercial softwood sulfate pulp, was mixed with sulfate pulp of palm fiber at levels from 20% to 50%. At the blend level of 50%, tensile index of 52.13 Nœm/g, tear index of 15.63 mNœm2/g, and burst index of 3.42 kPaœm2/g were attained. The lignin in spent liquor from pulping was isolated and characterized. Soda lignin of palm fiber was mainly composed of guaiacyl and syringyl units, and showed weight-average molecular weight of 3616 g/mol.
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Convolutional neural networks enhance pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry identification of coated papers, TAPPI Journal August 2024
ABSTRACT: In the evolving paper industry, accurate identification of coated paper components is essential for sustainability and recycling efforts. This study employed pyrolysis-gas chromatography mass spectrometry (Py-GCMS) to examine six types of coated paper. A key finding was the minimal interference of the paper substrate with the pyrolysis products of the coatings, ensuring reliable analysis. A one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1D-CNN) was employed to process the extracted ion chromatograms directly, simplifying the workflow and achieving a predictive accuracy of 95.2% in identifying different coating compositions. Additionally, the study high-lighted the importance of selecting an optimal pyrolysis temperature for effective feature extraction in machine learning models. Specific markers for coated papers, including polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polybutylene succinate (PBS), polylactic acid (PLA), and waterborne polyacrylates (WP), were identified. This research demonstrates a novel approach to coated paper identification by combining Py-GCMS with machine learning, offering a foundation for further studies in product quality and environmental impact.
Journal articles
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Effect of high sulfate content on viscosity of recovery boiler molten smelt, TAPPI Journal March 2024
ABSTRACT: A systematic study was conducted to examine the effect of high sulfate content on the freezing temperature of molten smelt and how this may contribute to the formation of viscous jellyroll smelt in recovery boilers. The results show that even for recovery boilers with a smelt reduction as low as 70%, the sulfate content in smelt has no or little effect on smelt freezing temperature, and hence, on molten smelt fluidity. The perceived adverse effect of high sulfate content on smelt fluidity and on jellyroll smelt formation comes from the high sulfate content in deposits that have fallen from the upper furnace. Fallen deposits may or may not form jellyroll smelt, depending on whether or not they can melt and be well-mixed with molten smelt by the time they reach the smelt spouts. It is not the high sulfate content in smelt resulting from the low smelt reduction efficiency that makes molten smelt viscous and forms jellyroll smelt, but rather, it is the incomplete melting of fallen deposits that results in one of the proposed mechanisms for jellyroll smelt formation.
Journal articles
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In-process detection of fiber cutting in low consistency ref
In-process detection of fiber cutting in low consistency refining based on measurement of forces on refiner bars, TAPPI JOURNAL April 2017
Journal articles
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Photo-catalytic degradation of gaseous pollutants in paper mills of southern China, TAPPI JOURNAL March 2018
Photo-catalytic degradation of gaseous pollutants in paper mills of southern China, TAPPI JOURNAL March 2018