Academic literature on the topic 'Wood-pulping Testing'

Abstract In the pulp and paper industry, variability in the process and wood source may result in highly corrosive waste liquors, called black liquors, from the Kraft pulping process. Prior research has demonstrated corrosion rates of carbon steel in pulp mill equipment ranging from <0.03 mm/y to >2.54 mm/y, depending on the wood species pulped. In this study wood species-dependent corrosion is confirmed and age-dependent corrosion is investigated as a function of organic extractive content. The composition of the organic portion of black liquor depends largely on the wood species used. Organic components come from extractives in the wood chips or are generated from the degradation of lignin and other wood constituents during the pulping process. Depending upon the wood species used, some black liquor constituents have been identified to increase the corrosiveness of black liquors whereas others may act as corrosion inhibitors. Our research demonstrates the importance of operational parameters for wood species and wood chip usage and delivery to downstream process corrosion. Further, results show the importance of water-extracted organics in wood, such as long chain fatty acids, using a novel methodology for the separation of extractives and lignin breakdown products in the testing of black liquor corrosiveness with carbon steel A516-Grade 70 (UNS K02700).

This study investigates the effect weathering on composites made from fibre subjected to various stages of a standard Kraft pulping process. Pre-washed, washed and bleached Kraft wood fibre of kappa numbers 27, 17, and 1 was assessed in terms of its surface potential using the streaming potential method and combined with polypropylene (PP) to produce composites. Composites were prepared using a twin screw extruder followed by pelletising and injection moulding. Tensile testing, hardness testing and impact testing were carried out to evaluate the composite mechanical properties. It was found that fibre with higher amounts of residual lignin content led to composites with lower tensile and impact strengths and increased degradability when subjected to accelerated weathering testing.

Abstract The world demand for paper has been increased due to the increasing population Therefore, to cop up the limited wood fiber resources introducing raw material in pulp and paper industries is necessary. The aims of this study to evaluate the pulp and paper-making properties of Caesalpinia decapetela based on proximate chemical composition, fiber morphology, pulping, bleaching, and physical test of the final product. The results proximate chemical analysis showed that C. decapetela has holocellulose content of 78.14±0.1 % and lignin content 18.0±0.04 %. Fiber morphology revealed that the fibers were 0.708 mm long, 18.63 μm width, and have 5.1 μm cell wall thicknesses. Kraft pulping of C. decapetale, was performed at different active alkali (5 %, 10 %, 15 %, 20 % and 25 %) and temperature (150, 160 and 170 °C), keeping the sulphidity 25 % constant. The pulp maximum yield 44.1 % was obtained at active alkali content of 15 %, temperature 160 °C, and cooking time 90 minutes. The effect of pulping on fiber morphology was studied using scanning electron microscopy which showed the surface of fiber before pulping was tight, orderly arranged and the texture was relatively hard. After pulping, there was the removal of lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose. Due to this fiber become soft loosened and contain micro-pores. Pulp produced was bleached, sheet preparation and testing were performed. The prepared paper sheets have a tensile index of 28.19 Nm/gm, burst index of 1.359 kPa m 2 / gm 1.359\hspace{0.1667em}\text{kPa}\hspace{0.1667em}{\text{m}^{2}}/\text{gm} , and tear indices of 4.2 mN m 2 / gm 4.2\hspace{0.1667em}\text{mN}\hspace{0.1667em}{\text{m}^{2}}/\text{gm} . This study concluded C. decapetale can be the new raw material for pulp and paper making industries. However, pilot plant studies are required to check this raw material for the full recommendation of the pulp and paper industries.

The necessity for the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the growing demand for the improvement of biorefinery technologies, and the development of new biorefining concepts oblige us as a society, and particularly us, as scientists, to develop novel biorefinery approaches. The purpose of this study is to thoroughly evaluate the leftover lignocellulosic (LC) biomass obtained after the manufacture of 2-furaldehyde, with the intention of further valorizing this resource. This study demonstrates that by using thermomechanical and alkaline peroxide mechanical pulping techniques, birch wood chips can be used in the new biorefinery processing chain for the production of 2-furaraldehyde, acetic acid, and cellulose pulp. In addition, the obtained lignocellulosic residue is also characterized. To produce a lignocellulosic material without pentoses and with the greatest amount of cellulose fiber preserved for future use, a novel bench-scale reactor technology is used. Studies were conducted utilizing orthophosphoric acid as a catalyst to deacetylate and dehydrate pentose monosaccharides found in birch wood, converting them to 2-furaldehyde and acetic acid. The results showed that, with the least amount of admixtures, the yields of the initial feedstock’s oven-dried mass (o.d.m.) of 2-furaldehyde, acetic acid, and lignocellulose residue ranged from 0.04 to 10.84%, 0.51 to 6.50%, and 68.13 to 98.07%, respectively, depending on the pretreatment conditions utilized. The ideal 2-furaldehyde production conditions with reference to the purity and usability of cellulose in residual lignocellulosic material were also discovered through experimental testing. The experiment that produced the best results in terms of 2-furaldehyde yield and purity of residual lignocellulose used a catalyst concentration of 70%, a catalyst quantity of 4%, a reaction temperature of 175 °C, and a treatment period of 60 min. It was possible to create pulp with a tensile index similar to standard printing paper by mechanically pulping the necessary LC residue with alkaline peroxide, proving that stepwise 2-furaldehyde production may be carried out with subsequent pulping to provide a variety of value-added goods.

The feasibility of using lignosulfonate (LS) from acid sulphite pulping of eucalyptus wood as an unmodified polyol in the formulation of polyurethane (PU) adhesives was evaluated. Purified LS was dissolved in water to simulate its concentration in sulphite spent liquor and then reacted with 4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (pMDI) in the presence or absence of poly(ethylene glycol) with Mw 200 (PEG200) as soft crosslinking segment. The ensuing LS-based PU adhesives were characterized by infrared spectroscopy and thermal analysis techniques. The adhesion strength of new adhesives was assessed using Automated Bonding Evaluation System (ABES) employing wood strips as a testing material. The results showed that the addition of PEG200 contributed positively both to the homogenization of the reaction mixture and better crosslinking of the polymeric network, as well as to the interface interactions and adhesive strength. The latter was comparable to the adhesive strength recorded for a commercial white glue with shear stress values of almost 3 MPa. The optimized LS-based PU adhesive formulation was examined for the curing kinetics following the Kissinger and the Ozawa methods by non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry, which revealed the curing activation energy of about 70 kJ·mol−1.

As part of an extensive audit of the Alkaline-Peroxide Mechanical Pulping (APMPTM) plant at the Malette Quebec Inc. mill in St. Raymond, Que., effluents were sampled from various stages of the process for comprehensive chemical characterizations, aquatic toxicity testing and anaerobic biotreatability assessments. In addition, untreated and secondary treated combined effluent from the integrated paper mill were sampled to determine the effectiveness of a conventional activated sludge process at the mill site. During the one-day sampling period, the APMP plant processed a mixed wood furnish consisting of 50% spruce/balsam fir and 50% aspen, with a chemical charge of 3.5% sodium hydroxide and 3.8% hydrogen peroxide on oven-dry fibre, while the Machine Finish Coated (MFC) paper production rate was 100 odt/d (oven dry metric tonnes per day). Measured production-specific contaminant discharge loadings from the novel APMP process were 56 kg BOD5/odt and 155 kg COD/odt in a combined effluent flow of 28 m3/odt. Sources of process effluent were chip washing, three stages of wood chip pretreatment and chemical impregnation (i.e., Impressafiner stages), interstate washing and pulp cleaning. The three Impressafiner pressates were found to be the most concentrated (i.e., 12-26 g COD/L) and toxic streams. Microtox testing of the pressates revealed EC50 concentrations of 0.07-0.34% v/v. The warm and concentrated effluents generated by the non-sulphur APMP process were found to be highly amenable to anaerobic degradation as determined by batch bioassay testing. Filterable BOD5 and COD(f) of the process effluents were reduced by 87-95% and 70-77%, respectively, with corresponding theoretical methane yields being attained. Acid-soluble dissolved lignin compounds exhibited biorecalcitrance, as revealed by limited removals of 34-55%, and were the main constituents contributing to residual COD(f), while resin and fatty acids (RFA) were reduced by 80-94%. The conservatively operated full scale activated sludge treatment process achieved a similar high 74% COD(f) removal from the whole mill effluent, while BOD5 and RFA reductions were virtually complete and the treated effluent was non-toxic, as measured by Microtox.

Water absorption capacity is a key characteristic of cellulosic pulps used for different commodities. This property is influenced by the affinity of the pulp fiber surface with water, chemical composition of the pulp, morphology, and organization of fibers in the network. In this study, surface properties of six industrial Eucalyptus bleached kraft pulps (fluff pulps) dry-defiberized in a Hammermill, which were obtained by wood pulping and pulp bleaching under different production conditions, were studied while employing dynamic water vapor sorption and contact angles measurements. The absorption properties of air-laid pulp pads were analyzed following the absorbency testing procedure and the relationship between these properties and pulp’s chemical composition and fiber network structure were assessed by multivariate analysis. The results showed that the accessibility of the fiber surface is related to the reduction of the contact angles, but, at the same time, to the longer absorption time and less absorption capacity of the fiber network. Therefore, the absorption properties of the pulps are not necessarily directly related to their surface properties. Indeed, absorptivity is related to the surface chemical composition, fiber morphology, and fiber network structure. Thus, surface carboxylic groups promote total water uptake, resulting in better absorption capacity. Greater fiber coarseness and deformations (curl and kink) provide a less wettable surface, but a more porous network with higher specific volume, resulting in more absorbent air-laid formulations.

More than 23 million tonnes of lignin are produced annually in the US from wood pulping and 98% of this lignin is burnt. Therefore, creating products from lignin, such as plastics, offers an approach for obtaining sustainable materials in a circular economy. Lignin-based copolymers were synthesized using a single pot, solvent free, melt condensation reaction. The synthesis occurred in two stages. In the first stage, a biobased prepolymer consisting of butanediol (BD, 0.8–1 molar content) and a diacid (succinic (SA), adipic (AA) and suberic acids (SuA), with varying amounts of diaminobutane (DAB, 0–0.2 molar content) was heated under vacuum and monitored by Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). In the second stage, prepolymer was mixed with a softwood kraft lignin (0–50 wt.%) and further reacted under vacuum at elevated temperature. Progression of the polymerization reaction was monitored using FTIR spectroscopy. The lignin-copolyester/amide properties were characterized using tensile testing, X-ray diffraction (XRD), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques. Lignin co-polymer tensile (strength 0.1–2.1 MPa and modulus 2 to 338 MPa) properties were found to be influenced by the diacid chain length, lignin, and DAB contents. The lignin-copolymers were shown to be semi-crystalline polymer and have thermoplastic behavior. The SA based copolyesters/amides were relatively stiff and brittle materials while the AA based copolyesters/amides were flexible and the SuA based copolyesters/amides fell in-between. Additionally, > 30 wt.% lignin the lignin- copolyesters/amides did not exhibit melt behavior. Lignin-co-polyester/amides can be generated using green synthesis methods from biobased building blocks. The lignin- copolyesters/amides properties could be tuned based on the lignin content, DAB content and diacid chain length. This approach shows that undervalued lignin can be used in as a macromonomer in producing thermoplastic materials.

When producing thermomechanical pulps (TMP), wood chips and fiber material are loaded mechanically in a disc-refiner to separate the fibers and to make them flexible. In the process, much of the energy supplied is transferred to the fiber material through cyclic compression, shear and friction processes. Therefore, compression and friction characteristics are needed in order to gain a better grasp of the forces acting during refining. To this end, in this thesis, the compressive and frictional behaviors of wood were investigated under simulated chip refining conditions (i.e., hot saturated steam, high strain rate compression, and high sliding speed). Two new, custom-designed, experimental setups were developed and used. The equipment used for compression testing was based on the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) technique and the friction tester was a pin-on-disc type of tribotester (wear rig). Both pieces of equipment allow a testing environment of hot saturated steam.   In the wood–steel friction investigation, the influence of the steam temperature (100-170°C) was of primary interest. The wood species chosen for the friction tests were spruce (Picea abies), pine (Pinus sylvestris, Pinus radiata), and birch (Betula verrucosa). When performing measurements in the lower-temperature region (100-130°C), the friction coefficients registered for the softwoods were generally low and surface properties such as lubrica­tion were suggested to have a great influence on the results; however, in the higher-tempera­ture region (~130 -170°C), the friction coefficients of all investigated wood species were probably determined by bulk properties to a much greater extent. When most of the wood extractives had been removed from the specimens, testing results revealed distinct peaks in friction at similar temperatures, as the internal friction of the different wood species are known to have their maxima at ~110–130°C. One suggested explanation of these friction peaks is that reduced lubrication enabled energy to dissipate into the bulk material, causing particularly high friction at the temperature at which internal damping of the material was greatest. During the friction measurements in the higher-temperature region, the specimens of the different wood species also started to lose fibers (i.e., produce wear debris) at different characteristic temperatures, as indicated by peaks in the coefficient of friction. In refining, the generally lower shives content of pine TMP than of spruce TMP could partly be explained by a lower wear initiation temperature in the pine species.   Wood stiffness is known to decrease with temperature, when measured at low strain rates. The results presented in this thesis can confirm a similar behavior for high strain rate compression. The compressive strain registered during impulsive loading (using a modified split Hopkinson equipment) increased with temperature; because strain rate also increased with temperature. Accordingly, the strain rates should determine the strain magnitudes also in a refiner, since the impulsive loads in a refiner are of similar type. Larger strains would thus be achieved when refining at high temperatures. The results achieved in the compression tests were also considered in relation to refining parameters such as plate clearance and refining intensity, parameters that could be discussed in light of the stress–strain relations derived from the high strain rate measurements. Trials recorded using high-speed photography demonstrated that the wood relaxation was very small in the investigated time frame ~6 ms. As well, in TMP refining the wood material has little time to relax, i.e., ~0.04–0.5 ms in a large single disc refiner. The results presented here are therefore more suitable for comparison with the impulsive loads arising in a refiner than are the results of any earlier study. It can therefore be concluded that the modified SHPB testing technique combined with high-speed photography is well suited for studying the dynamic behavior of wood under conditions like those prevalent in a TMP system.

A high extractive-content temperate conifer wood (Pinus elliottii) was examined as a pulpwood source by organosolv pulping. Particularly, the behavior of the resin- and fatty acids during the lignin solvolysis process was studied in detail. For this purpose the resin-and fatty acids were characterized in the wood, and after pulping trials in order to reveal their fate during pulping, using catalyzed 80% aqueous alcohol (methanol) as solvent. Wood extractives were removed by both methanolic cold maceration and Soxhlet extraction techniques. The resin-and fatty acid fractions thus collected were saponified and/or methylated and characterized by gas liquid chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). No significant differences were found in regard to extraction efficiencies between the two types of cold extractions. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between these two types of cold extractions in comparison with the procedure described by TAPPI standard T 204 os-76. Pulping experiments were performed at 205°C for periods of 5, 20, 40, and 60 min. Lignins, which precipitated on cooling of the black liquor (Lignin fraction I), were set aside for further extractions and chemical analyses. The molecular weight distribution of these lignins was determined by size exclusion chromatography on an HPLC and their quantity was determined either gravimetrically or volumetrically. Precipitated Lignin Fraction I, suspected of containing some adsorbed extractives and some fiber fragments, was transferred to a tared crucible. The lignin and extractives were sequentially dissolved by using tetrahydrofuran (THF), acetone and methanol. This solution was evaporated, the residue redissolved in methanol-water (80:20) and the solution liquid-liquid extracted with diethyl ether in a separatory funnel followed by methylation prior to GC and GC-MS analysis. Quantification of the resin- and fatty acids in the wood and those recovered after organosolv pulping was performed using an internal standard (methyl heptadecanoate) added prior to the extraction steps. The extractives dissolved in the black liquor were isolated by a ternary liquid-liquid extraction scheme using diethyl ether, methylated with fresh diazomethane, and the resin- and fatty acids methyl esters characterized by GC and GC-MS. The extractives present in the pulp were isolated (removed) by a Soxhlet extraction procedure with methanol and" the resin- and fatty acids fractions characterized as above. Resin- and fatty acids surviving the high-temperature pulping process, were found mainly in the black liquor. After the 60 min cook, the black liquor contained 78.1% and 71.6% of resin- and fatty acids, respectively, while the pulp retained 11.7% and 8.2%, respectively of the extractives originally present in wood. "Lignin fraction I" adsorbed 10.2% and 20.2% of the resin- and fatty acids, respectively. Contrarily, if all of the lignin is precipitated (Lignin fraction II). prior to liquid/liquid extraction of the black liquor with diethyl ether, 98% and 60.4% of the resin- and fatty acids co-precipitate with the lignin and 2.0% and 39.6%, respectively, remain dissolved in the aqueous filtrate. Industrial organosolv lignin isolated after solvent pulping of pine was thus shown to contain most (98%) of the resin acids and 39.6% of the fatty acids normally found in pines. Although not tested, it is supposed that lignins isolated by precipitation from the black liquor after organosolv pulping of other species cannot be considered as "pristine lignins" as described hitherto in the technical literature, since such lignins are heavily contaminated by the extractives of the wood species. In light of these findings all data on chemical and physical characterization of organosolv lignins and their reactivity will have to be reexamined and reassessed to remove the effect of the extractives as contaminants.
Forestry, Faculty of
Graduate

Cellulose is the most abundant organic polymer on Earth and a fascinating compound for a vast variety of applications. It is mostly received from wood, thus it is a renewable resource and a CO2 storing material. One of the most important cellulose products are pulp and paper. The major goal of this work was to obtain a material with a high amount of cellulose through a pulping process of wood. Therefore, it is necessary to separate the wood bers and to remove a component of wood, which is called lignin (deligni cation). The conventional way to delignify wood is the Kraft process that causes serval problems like contamination of lignin with sulfur and the emission of toxic volatile sulfur compounds. Hence, there are alternative processes without sulfur, such as the Acetosolv process. It uses simple chemicals like acetic acid and is easy to handle. After cutting a spruce tree (Picea abies L. Karst.), debarking and chipping, the wood chips were cooked in the laboratory. The research included the chemical analysis of the obtained pulp and the manufacturing and testing of paper sheets. The yield of pulp ranged widely due to the di erent parameters of the cooking. FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy were used to observe the decrease of aromatic substances (lignin) and the acetylation of the pulp. With the means of Design of Experiments and statistical analysis the most important factors were identi ed and a mathematical regression model was calculated. The manufactured paper sheets showed good mechanical properties and high transparency. Finally, the Acetosolv process could be considered as a contribution to the upcoming bio-based economy because, in addition to the cellulose bers, the industry would be capable of adding value utilization of the separated lignin. It could be one step to a more sustainable paper and pulp production.