Method for improved pulping using an environmentally friendly pulping aid

Inactive Publication Date: 2019-07-25
CONSTANTACOS JIM
View PDF8 Cites 0 Cited by
  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method for pulping lignocellulosic biomass through the addition of a safe and environmentally friendly pulping aid composed of a terpene mixture and a dispersant blend, which comprises a surfactant-based dispersant and a silicone-free defoamer. The combination of these materials has led to the discovery of a pulping aid that simultaneously improves screened pulp yield and reduces the extractives content of the pulp, thus reducing or eliminating the deposition of extractive-containing pitch. The pulping aid is safe, biodegradable and thus environmentally friendly. The terpene component of the pulping aid is ideally derived from a class of natural products, namely cyclic terpenoids and the like, including the citrus by-product, d-limonene. The pulping aid is added to the pulping process, either in the pretreatment of the lignocellulosic biomass or during digestion or both. The pulping aid is designed to have a high flash point of at least 49° C. to 93° C. and preferably at least 60° C. to 77° C. to ensure safe storage and handling, and to minimize the release of harmful VOCs. Not to be bound by any specific mechanism or mode of action, the pulping aid is thought to act on pitch-generating molecules or particles, especially those formed from the saponifiable (fatty and resin acids) as well as the un

Problems solved by technology

Pulping aids are typically added directly to the pulping chemicals and thus require little-to-no additional capital investment in new pulping equipment that would otherwise limit their use.
Pitch deposits are objectionable, as they are not easily removed from the pulp.
If these pitch deposits are not removed from the pulp they will be carried over to the final pulp or paper product, which can result in costly quality-related losses.
Further, they will contaminate the surfaces on pulp and papermaking equipment, which will reduce operational efficiencies as, for example, when production must be interrupted to clean these surfaces.
Methods for enzymatic degradation of pitch and pitch precursors using lipases and other enzymes (U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,796) have been developed but are not widely practiced due to the relatively high cost of enzymes.
Foam is generally regarded as a problem in most pulp and paper operations.
For example, foam will impede the dewatering of the pulp slurry, resulting in operational inefficiencies, especially during pulp washing and papermaking.
The addition of defoamer adds cost and can result in unwanted de

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
View more

Image

Smart Image Click on the blue labels to locate them in the text.
Viewing Examples
Smart Image
  • Method for improved pulping using an environmentally friendly pulping aid

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

Example

Example 1

[0025]A multi-day trial was used to determine the impact of the pulping aid of this invention on mill pulp production. Hardwood chips comprising a majority of maple wood chips were contacted with between 0.2 lbs and 4.0 lbs of pulping aid per ton of dry pulp, the pulping aid being a mixture of 60% terpenes and 40% of a dispersant blend. As summarized in Table 1, at a constant addition level of 2.5 lbs per dry ton of pulp, the H-factor was unchanged. However, rejects were reduced by 45% and the pulp extractives content was reduced by 57.3%. The incremental fiber production realized from the lower rejects level was about 14.4 dry tons per day. Furthermore, the use of a surfactant-based pitch control chemical was eliminated and the use of defoamers was reduced by about 20%.

Example

Example 2

[0026]A multi-day trial was used to determine the impact of the pulping aid of this invention on mill pulp production. Hardwood chips comprising a majority of aspen wood chips were contacted with between 0.2 lbs and 4.0 lbs of pulping aid per ton of dry pulp, the pulping aid being a mixture of 60% terpenes and 40% of a dispersant blend. As summarized in Table 1, at a constant addition level of 2.5 lbs per dry ton of pulp, the H-factor was reduced by 8.0%; rejects were reduced by 53% and the pulp extractives content was reduced by 27.3%. In addition, the pulp production rate of the mill was increased by 4.4% from the base rate. The incremental fiber production realized from the lower rejects level was 7.5 dry tons per day. Furthermore, the use of a surfactant-based pitch control chemical was eliminated and the use of defoamers was reduced by about 20%.

Example

Example 3

[0027]A relatively long (multi-week) trial was used to determine the robustness of the method of this invention on mill pulp production. Hardwood chips comprising a blend of aspen and maple wood chips were contacted with 0.2 lbs and 4.0 lbs of pulping aid per ton of dry pulp, the pulping aid being a mixture of 60% terpenes and 40% of a dispersant blend. As summarized in Table 1, at a constant addition level of 0.5 lbs per dry ton of pulp the H-factor was reduced by 6.7%; alkalinity was reduced by 4.3% from 23.0 g / L; rejects were reduced by 47% and the pulp extractives content was reduced by 36.1%. Further, the pulp production rate of mill was increased by 4.8% from the base rate. The incremental pulp fiber production realized from the lower rejects level was 5.5 dry tons per day. Furthermore, the use of a surfactant-based pitch control chemical was eliminated and the use of defoamers was reduced by about 20%.

TABLE 1H-FactorExtractives (g / L)RejectsPercentPercentIncremental T...

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to view more

PUM

PropertyMeasurementUnit
Temperatureaaaaaaaaaa
Temperatureaaaaaaaaaa
Temperatureaaaaaaaaaa
Login to view more

Abstract

A safe and environmentally friendly pulping aid comprising a mixture of natural terpene-based chemicals and a dispersant blend. The pulping aid is used in the pulping of lignocellulosic biomass to simultaneously increase screened pulp yield and reduce the extractives content of pulp. The flash point of the pulping aid is at least 49° C.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to a method of improving the digestion of lignocellulose biomass used in the production of pulp, paper and paperboard products through the addition of a novel environmentally friendly pulping aid. The present invention also relates to a method of improving the production of pulp, paper and paperboard products by the addition of a novel environmentally friendly pulping aid.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The pulping of lignocellulosic materials is well known. As described by Smook (2002, pp. 67-84), there are many pulping processes available. The pulping process of highest commercial relevance is the kraft process. Briefly described, in the kraft pulping process lignocellulosic material, typically in the form of wood chips of specified dimensions, is contacted with the “cooking liquor,” which is an aqueous mixture of pulping chemicals, principally sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. These chemicals, in combination with tempe...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to view more

Application Information

Patent Timeline
no application Login to view more
IPC IPC(8): D21C3/00D21C3/02D21C3/06
CPCD21C3/003D21C3/022D21C3/06D21C3/02D21C3/04D21C3/20D21C3/222
Inventor CONSTANTACOS, JIM
Owner CONSTANTACOS JIM
Who we serve
  • R&D Engineer
  • R&D Manager
  • IP Professional
Why Eureka
  • Industry Leading Data Capabilities
  • Powerful AI technology
  • Patent DNA Extraction
Social media
Try Eureka
PatSnap group products

Browse by: Latest US Patents, China's latest patents, Technical Efficacy Thesaurus, Application Domain, Technology Topic.

© 2024 PatSnap. All rights reserved.Legal|Privacy policy|Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement|Sitemap