Flow imaging characterisation of morphological changes of chemical pulp due to refining
2016 (English)In: Nordic Pulp & Paper Research Journal, ISSN 0283-2631, E-ISSN 2000-0669, Vol. 31, no 3, p. 411-421Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The influence of the refining process on the morphological changes of a chemical softwood pulp was investigated. The Voith LR40 industrial-like laboratory low consistency refiner was used, where the pulp was refined with five refining segments with differences in bar widths, groove widths, and cutting angles. The refined pulp was characterized with a fibre analyser with a spatial resolution of approximately 4 μm/pixel and a wide size range. The fines fraction of the refined pulp was also characterized with an imaging flow cytometer with a spatial resolution of 0.33 μm/pixel and a narrower size range. The fibre analyser measurements showed that the mean length, width, and aspect ratio of the fines decreased monotonically with accumulated refining energy. The imaging flow cytometer with its higher spatial resolution showed little change in fines morphology with accumulated refining energy. The morphology of the fines was more dependent on the applied specific refining energy than the design of the refining segment. However, a segment with much finer grooves and bars, initially designed for hardwood, gave significantly less fibre shortening, fines generation, external fibrillation, kink, and fines that were more fibrillar, compared to the other segments.Grant: The authors of this work would like to thank Prof. Lars Mattsson, Thomas Grahn, and Eva Ålander for fruitful discussions. The discussions with Lorentzen & Wettre were of great assistance. The financial support of the Swedish Energy Agency and the Önnesjöstiftelsen to the PhD project, and of the Fibre and Stock Design research programme to this evaluation study is gratefully acknowledged.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2016. Vol. 31, no 3, p. 411-421
Keywords [en]
Chemical pulp, Fibrillation, Fines, Morphology, Refining, Stock characterization
National Category
Chemical Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-28941ISI: 000387976000001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84982189716OAI: oai:DiVA.org:miun-28941DiVA, id: diva2:974784
Note
Funding Details: Swedish Energy Agency
2016-09-272016-09-272019-12-19Bibliographically approved