Mid Sweden University

Unlike fossil-based plastics, wood-based packaging materials can be produced in an eco-friendly manner using wood chip residuals from sawmills and pulpwood. To produce high-yield pulp like chemithermomechanical pulps (CTMPs) for paperboard and liquid packaging, it’s crucial to reduce the electric energy consumption during fiber separation. The ultimate objective is to revolutionize paperboard production by achieving a middle-layer CTMP process that consumes less than 200 kWh/t, significantly improving from the current 500-600 kWh/t energy demand.

Optimizing the CTMP impregnation process of sodium sulfite (Na2SO3) in wood chips is crucial for achieving uniform softening, ideally at the fiber level. The properties of the fibers are significantly affected by the content of lignin sulfonates within the walls of the fiber and the middle lamellae. In this study, we employed in-house developed X-ray fluorescence (XRF) techniques, validated by beamline measurements, to map the distribution of sulfonated lignin within fibers. It also seemed possible to enhance the surface area of lignin-rich pulp fibers while losing minimal bulk by refining them with well-optimized low consistency (LC) refining. We aim to achieve a highly efficient separation of coniferous wood fibers by co-optimizing the sulfonation and the temperature in the pre-heater and chip-refiner. Additionally, we explored how lignin's softening behavior and potential crosslinking influence subsequent unit operations, including pressing, peroxide bleaching, and drying, following the defibration process. In defibration during chip refining, the maximum softening of wood fibers is preferred to maximize fiber preservation and minimize energy consumption. However, optimizing the stiffness of finished pulp fibers is preferable to reduce bulk loss during paperboard production. It can strive to optimize processes to develop stronger, lighter, and more sustainable composite packaging materials. Reducing environmental impact and electric energy can help create a more sustainable future.

Low-consistency (LC) refining is used in mechanical pulping and in general to give a final touch to a papermaking pulp. The desired—and undesired—effects come from changes in the property and size distributions of the different kinds of fibrous particles. In our study, we focus on the changes in the size distributions of mechanical pulps, measured with an optical fibre analyser. Pulp samples were collected before and after industrial LC refiners of thermomechanical pulps with spruce as raw material. We demonstrate that changes in the observed size distributions of fibre length and diameter can be reproduced with a stochastic model with just two parameters for particles breaking uniformly at random locations. One probability controls the breaks per unit length that shorten fibres, and another the splits per unit diameter that generate more fines. Our findings support the hypothesis that these two processes are separate so that breaks in length do not govern the increase in fines. Both fibre shortening and fines generation increased with refining energy but, at a given energy, only fibre shortening showed clear differences between trials. In a two-stage refining trial, the probability that fibres shorten was equal to the product of the single-stage probabilities. In addition, the two-stage probability fell on the same straight line as the one-stage probabilities when both were plotted against the refining energy measured from the threshold energy at which breaks start. 

In the pulp and paper industry, pulp testing is typically a labor-intensive process performed on hand-made laboratory sheets. Online quality control by automated image analysis and machine learning (ML) could provide a consistent, fast and cost-efficient alternative. In this study, four different supervised ML techniques—Lasso regression, support vector machine (SVM), feed-forward neural networks (FFNN), and recurrent neural networks (RNN)—were applied to fiber data obtained from fiber suspension micrographs analyzed by two separate image analysis software. With the built-in software of a commercial fiber analyzer optimized for speed, the maximum accuracy of 81% was achieved using the FFNN algorithm with Yeo–Johnson preprocessing. With an in-house algorithm adapted for ML by an extended set of particle attributes, a maximum accuracy of 96% was achieved with Lasso regression. A parameter capturing the average intensity of the particle in the micrograph, only available from the latter software, has a particularly strong predictive capability. The high accuracy and sensitivity of the ML results indicate that such a strategy could be very useful for quality control of fiber dispersions. 

Softwood pulp flow in rotating and non-rotating grooves is numerically simulated in the present study to investigate the fluid flow and the forces acting on a representative surface mounted in the groove. The viscosity of softwood pulp with various consistencies is available from the measurements reported in the literature providing the opportunity to examine the effects of fiber consistency on the velocity and pressure distribution within the groove. The simulations are carried out in OpenFOAM for different values of gap thickness, angular velocity and radial positions from which the pressure coefficient and shear forces values are obtained. It is found that the shear forces within the gap increase linearly with the angular velocity for all fiber consistencies investigated and in both grooves. Also, this behavior can be successfully predicted by modeling the gap flow as a Couette flow in a two-dimensional channel. Meanwhile, a more detailed analysis of the flow kinetic energy close to the stagnation point using Bernoulli's principle is carried out to provide a better understanding of the pressure coefficient variation with angular velocity in the non-rotating groove. A comparison of pressure coefficients obtained numerically with those calculated by considering the compression effects revealed that the comparison effects are dominating in the pulp flow within the groove.

The present study deals with the numerical simulation of softwood pulp flow in the rotating and non-rotating grooves in an aim to investigate the fluid flow and forces acting on a representative surface mounted in the groove. The viscosity of softwood pulp in different consistencies is available from the experimental measurements reported in the literature providing the opportunity to examine the effects of fiber consistency on the velocity and pressure distribution within the groove. The simulations are carried out in OpenFOAM for different values of gap thickness and angular velocity from which the pressure coefficient and shear forces values are obtained. It is found that the pressure increases at the stagnation point located at the gap entrance in the non-rotating groove due to tangential motion of the upper wall which induces the helical motion of the pulp flow in the groove’s cavity. However, such an effect is not observed in the rotating cavity close to the groove inlet. Meanwhile, by moving further along the channel length toward the outlet the helical motion is enhanced and an increase in the pressure is observed at the stagnation point. The shear forces over the representative surface are found to be independent of representative surface’s location and it is in the same level in the rotating and non-rotating grooves. In addition to the numerical simulations, an analytical discussion is also presented to provide a deeper understanding of pressure coefficient and shear forces variations with different parameters in the rotating and non-rotating grooves.

Chemithermomechanical pulp (CTMP) is often used in middle layers of multiply paperboards due to its high bulk at specified strength. Such a CTMP should consist of well-separated undamaged fibres with sufficient bonding capacity. The basic objective of this work is to examine the effect of refining on bulk, taking into account conditions such as temperature, sulphonation, refining gap and refiner size. First stage CTMP made from Norway spruce (Picea abies) were produced in pilot and mill scale trials. Two new parameters, Equivalent temperature related to softness and Refining gentleness are introduced that take into account refining conditions as actual temperature, softening temperature, bound sulphonate content, refining gap and refiner diameter. The results show that bulk increases linearly with refining gentleness.

Numerical simulation of pulp flow in rotating and non-rotating grooves is carried out to investigate the effect of pulp rheological properties and groove geometry on the rotational motion of the pulp flow. The eucalyptus pulp suspension is considered as a working fluid in the present study whose apparent viscosity correlation is available from the experimental measurements reported in the literature. The simulations are carried out with OpenFoam for different values of pulp material, fiber concentrations, and groove cross-section. Helicity is introduced to measure the turnover rate of pulp flow in the groove due to the importance of such motion on the final properties of the pulp flow. A measurement of helicity magnitude and its distribution along the groove revealed that a change in the pulp material would significantly affect the flow structures within the groove. Further investigation on the effects of fiber concentration, c, showed that this parameter does not have a significant effect on the averaged helicity magnitude for c = 2.0 and 2.5, whereas the helicity distribution over the groove cross-section changes clearly for c = 1.5. The results showed that the helicity level is negligible for almost half of the cavity cross-section in the non-rotating groove simulations, which can be considered as a shortcoming of the original geometry of the groove. Therefore, a smaller cross-section for the groove is considered through which an enhancement in the helicity magnitude is observed. 

Chemithermomechanical pulp (CTMP) is often used in central layers of multiply paperboards due to its high bulk and strength. Such a CTMP should consist of well-separated undamaged fibres with sufficient bonding capacity. The basic objective of this work is to optimize process conditions in low-consistency (LC) refining, i. e. to select or ultimately develop new optimal LC refiner filling patterns, in order to produce fibrillar fines and improve the separation of fibres from each other while preserving the natural fibre morphology as much as possible. Furthermore, the aim is to evaluate if this type of work can be done at laboratory-scale or if it is necessary to run trials in pilot- or mill-scale in order to get relevant answers. First stage CTMP made from Norway spruce (Picea abies) was LC refined in mill-, pilot- and laboratory-scale trials and with different filling patterns. The results show that an LR1 laboratory refiner can favourably be used instead of larger refiners in order to characterize CTMP with regard to tensile index and z-strength versus bulk. A fine filling pattern resulted in CTMP with higher tensile index, z-strength and energy efficiency at maintained bulk compared to a standard filling pattern.

The dry strength properties of hot pressed moist paper improved as stiff high-yield pulp (HYP) fibers soften and the sheet density increased. Very high wet strength was also achieved without adding strengthening agents. This research focuses on a new hot-pressing methodology based on a steel belt-based pilot cylinder press with infrared heating. The heated steel belt transports the moist paper into the cylinder nip with two adjacent steel rollers with adjustable nip pressure. The temperature ranges up to 300°C, maximum speed is 5 m/min, maximum pulling force from the steel belt is 70 kN and the line load in the two press nips is 15 kN/m each. High peak pressures are possible due to the hard press nip between steel rolls and steel belt, allowing a good heat transfer to the paper. The long dwell time allows strained drying of the paper which results to high density and high wet strength. Paper samples from high-yield pulps were tested at different nip pressures, temperatures and machine speeds while the dry content was kept constant at about 63%. High nip pressure showed the largest effect on densification and dry strength. While high temperature and long dwell time seem to be most important in achieving high wet strength. 

The dry strength properties of hot-pressed moist paper improved as stiff high-yield pulp fibers soften and the sheet density increased. Very high wet strength was also achieved without adding strengthening agents. This research focuses on a new hot-pressing methodology based on a steel belt-based pilot cylinder press with infrared heating. The heated steel belt transports the moist paper into the cylinder nip with two adjacent steel rollers with adjustable nip pressure. The temperature ranges up to 300 °C, maximum speed is 5 m/min, maximum pulling force from the steel belt is 70 kN and the line load in the two press nips is 15 kN/m each. High peak pressures are possible due to the hard press nip between steel rolls and steel belt, allowing a good heat transfer to the paper. The long dwell time allows strained drying of the paper which results to high density and high wet strength. Paper samples from high-yield pulps were tested at different nip pressures, temperatures and machine speeds while the dry content was kept constant at about 63%. High nip pressure showed the largest effect on densification and dry strength. While high temperature and long dwell time seem to be most important in achieving high wet strength.