Method and system for manufacturing cellulose-based insulation

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a flocks-based, cellulose- based thermal and / or acoustic insulation material, comprises providing one or more webs of cellulose-based material on respective rolls and subjecting the webs of cellulose-based material by unrolling to a grinding operation to obtain flocks comprising cellulose-based materials from the webs forming the flocks-based insulation material. One or more additives may be provided to the cellulose-based material during the grinding operation.

Description

[0001] Method and system for manuf cturing cellulose-based insulation

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present disclosure relates to manufacturing cellulose-based insulation, in particular a f locks-based, cellulose-based thermal and / or acoustic insulation material .

[0004] BACKGROUND Manufacturing f locks-based, cellulose-based thermal and / or acoustic insulation material is known; in the known methods and systems , generally used paper or paperboard from old newsprint or magazines is used a as raw material , and usually multiple steps are used to first shred the raw materials to shreds and then further grind the shreds to flocks . Fire retardants , anti fungal materials , and possibly other additives are added to the shreds and / or to the flocks to provide the cellulose-based materials with fire and / or anti fungal properties .

[0005] However, the known methods are hindered by contaminants in and / or conditions of the source materials such as dirt , foreign obj ects like staples and / or paperclips , and humidity, in addition to (poor information of , and / or control over ) di f ferent types and qualities of paper and / or cardboard and any materials used in combination such as coatings , inks , plastics etc .

[0006] Several attempts to improve provision of cellulose- based insulation from used paper have been disclosed so far : e . g . WO 2010 / 067338 describes a process for producing cellulose- based thermal and / or acoustic insulation material , characterised in that said insulation material comprises paper sludge and wherein said insulation material is in form of flakes .

[0007] Further, WO 2012 / 004725 describes a process for producing a cellulose-based thermally and / or acoustically insulating material , wherein said cellulose is at least in part derived from paper-mill sludge , characteri zed in that it envisages the addition to said sludge of at least one copperbased compound with biocidal action .

[0008] These methods require pulping and sludging of the source materials .

[0009] WO 2017 / 182846 describes a process for producing a flaked cellulose-based thermal- and / or acoustic-insulating material . The process comprises the following steps : - preparing a cellulose-based pulp ; - providing a web of paper having a given thickness , starting from said pulp ; - applying on said web a coating constituted by a mixture containing a first substance having a flame-retardant function and a second substance having an anti-mould function; and - subj ecting said coated web to a milling operation so as to provide flakes constituting said flaked insulating material . After the web has possibly been cut to si ze along the appropriate longitudinal edges , it may be wound on a reel and stored in this form .

[0010] Also , EP 3 375 934 Al describes a process for manufacturing a f locks-based, cellulose-based thermal and / or acoustic insulating materials . The process comprises the following steps : - preparing a cellulose-based pulp ; - adding to said pulp a mixture (A) comprising at least one substance having a fireproof property and / or at least one substance having an anti-mould property; - making a paper web having a determined thickness and grammage , from said pulp ; - applying on both sides of the web the mixture (B ) by means of "applicators" inserted during the re-wetting and drying steps ; - subj ecting said web to a grinding operation in order to obtain flocks forming said f locks-based insulating material . The web, after being possibly cut to si ze along the appropriate longitudinal edges , can be wound on a reel and then can be stored in such format . These methods of WO 2017 / 182846 and EP 3 375 934 Al require manufacturing of a paper web from the source materials in order to achieve a determined composition and form (thickness and grammage) of the web material; only after the web has assumed a final configuration from the standpoint of its composition and structure, is it processed mechanically for producing the flocks constituting the end product.

[0011] DE 196 53 243 Al discloses a method for the preparation of insulation and noise-damping materials from paper. The method involves fiberising paper material using sticky-label stock as the paper material. According to this document, by restricting the method to a single type of source material without contaminants, sorting of the source material is obviated. However, relying on a single source material restricts use of the method and leaves little to no control flexibility over the final product, which also inherently contains glue components.

[0012] Further aspects regarding cellulose-based insulation are also disclosed:

[0013] DE 195 29 963 Al discloses a cellulose insulation product from used paper. In preparation of cellulose insulation from used paper, an aqueous solution especially containing 5 vol.% of borax, 2% of boric acid and 93% of colloidal A1 (OH)3, is sprayed on, and penetrates into the cellulose fibres, ensuring non-inflammability corresponding to DIN 4102-B2.

[0014] EP 2 045 408 discloses heat insulation material with cellulose fibres and method for producing same. The cellulose- fibre thermal insulation material has a matrix of springy elastic wood chips, forming cavities which contain cellulose fibres. The wood chips are 10-20 mm long, 0.05-0.4 mm thick and 5-15 mm wide. The cellulose fibres are 0.5-9 mm long, and their diameter is 0.1-0.2 mm. The humidity of the wood chips should preferably be from 1 to 12%. The method of producing comprises that spring-elastic wood chips are produced in that a trunk of moist wood is machined by means of a bevelled face milling tool and in that the wood chips thereby obtained are dried and mixed with the cellulose fibres .

[0015] Further improvements regarding provision of cellulose- based insulation from used paper are still desired .

[0016] SUMMARY

[0017] In view of the preceding, herewith is provided a method of manufacturing a f locks-based, cellulose-based thermal and / or acoustic insulation material , comprising providing one or more webs of cellulose-based material on respective rolls and subj ecting the one or more webs of cellulose-based material by unrolling to a grinding operation to obtain flocks comprising cellulose-based materials from the one or more webs forming the f locks-based insulation material . The method comprises providing one or more additives , such as a fire retardant and / or an antifungal substance , to the cellulose-based material during the grinding operation . The method may in particular comprise providing the one or more additives to an unrolled portion of at least of the one or more webs and / or providing the one or more additives into a grinder, and / or it may in particular comprise providing the one or more additives gravimetrically .

[0018] By subj ecting the one or more webs of cellulose-based material by unrolling to a grinding operation, the composition and / or amount of cellulose-based material ( to be ) trans formed into the flocks by the grinding operation can be accurately controlled . In particular, a mass flow of the material into the grinding operation may be well controlled, e . g . by controlling a feeding speed . Therefore , a relation between an amount of cellulose-based material ( to be ) trans formed into the flocks by the grinding operation and an amount of additive can be determined with high precision . This allows reducing or preventing over- and / or underdosing the additive relative to the amount of cellulose-based material , and improving quality of , and / or quality control over, the method and the produced flocks- based insulation material .

[0019] It is noted that amounts of shreds inherently contain signi ficant and unpredictable local variations in composition and density, so that in known methods amounts of additives to a batch of shreds are always based on portions of the batch having the highest density and worst composition, to ensure the protection from the additive ( s ) for each portion of the batch . This causes costs and may burden the environment . The present method also obviates manufacturing of a dedicated paper web having particular composition of cellulose material and additives .

[0020] In view of the preceding, herewith is also provided a method of manufacturing a f locks-based, cellulose-based thermal and / or acoustic insulation material , which may be combined with the method presented herein before , comprising providing plural webs of cellulose-based material on respective rolls and subj ecting the plural webs of cellulose-based material by unrolling to a common grinding operation to obtain flocks comprising cellulose-based materials from the plural webs forming the f locks-based insulation material .

[0021] By subj ecting plural webs of cellulose-based material to a common grinding operation the flocks obtained comprise cellulose-based materials from the plural webs . This facilitates one or more of distributing the cellulose-based materials from the plural webs over the flocks , providing control over the composition and / or properties of the material of the flocks , and control over the composition and / or properties of the material of the f locks-based insulation material as a whole . The properties may comprise one or more of thermal and / or acoustic insulation behaviour ; mechanical properties such as uni formity, density, mass density, resiliency, setting behaviour ; fire resistance ; etc . Hence , determination of quality control over the insulation material may be improved . Providing one or more, preferably all, webs on a roll may facilitate one or more of storage, transport, handling, and supplying of the web. E.g. a roll may be rolled tightly reducing volume of the material and / or this may allow supplying significant amounts of material into the grinding process uninterruptedly. If a first roll is nearly spent, a web from a second roll may be attached to the first roll "on the fly" so that with unrolling of the first roll the web of the second roll may be fed into a process stream to replace the web of the first roll in the method thereafter, as known in the art of production methods involving rolls of supply webs.

[0022] Also, paper- and board material tend to be manufactured on rolls; thus, using the method may allow manufacturing of a flocks-based insulation material on the basis of rolls of webs that have been rejected and / or declared waste. This obviates the customary procedure of splitting the rolled webs with a guillotine (thus transforming the web into sheets) and pulping the material back into source material for manufacturing new webs of paper for a given application like packaging, (news) print, tissue, or the like. Note that rejection of a roll may be based on quality parameters unrelated to the cellulose material per se, such as physical damage to the web and / or printing errors; such rolls may be used as source material for the method without further modification, possibly except for cutting the roll to size in axial direction.

[0023] Further, subjecting plural webs together to a common grinding operation may reduce speed and / or unrolling speed of one or more of the webs (e.g. in units of meters unrolled web length per second and / or roll rotation per second) at a given rate of grinding material (e.g. a mass flow rate, such as in units of grams material per second) compared to supplying the grinding material from a single roll; this may improve reliability of the method and it may facilitate quality control, it may reduce loads and wear of the system. Herein, "common" is used in a sense of "together" , " in combination" ; the common grinding operation may comprise use of one or more grinders in common for grinding the cellulose material of the plural webs together, such as being performed using a single grinder or using one or more first grinders feeding into a single common grinder for a subsequent grinding phase .

[0024] The grinding operation may comprise crushing and / or comprise fiberising the material against grinding members and / or by friction of pieces of the web material against each other ; the latter is preferred and may be provided by vigorously whirling the material in air . The grinding operation may obviate prior cutting and / or shredding at least part of the webs into shreds .

[0025] More in detail , by using plural webs of cellulose-based material as source materials , composition of the source material may be controlled and possibly adj usted such as by adj ustment of the number and / or composition of the webs , therewith composition of the flocks may be determined well . Also or alternatively, conditions of a web may be controlled better than conditions of used paper ; webs may have fewer or no inclusions and / or contaminants such as foreign obj ects , dirt , humidity variations , etc . Also , webs may occupy less space for a given amount of material than shreds ; rolls of webs may contain signi ficant amounts of cellulose material and may supply a grinding operation in controllable and predictable manner for prolonged times . Amounts of shreds tend to comprise signi ficant amounts of air and little cellulose material in comparison to rolls , and in general they also have uneven composition and / or mass distribution and units of shreds like bales or big bags may need to be replaced often, possibly causing production interrupts . Providing a homogeneous composition of the fiberised product from shreds may require complicated and bulky devices and methods for mixing components ( shred source materials , and / or additive (s) as set out above) sufficiently evenly; the presently provided method simplifies thorough mixing (fibres of) different source materials during the feeding and the grinding operation in a single device and integrated method.

[0026] The flocks-based insulation material may be operably applied in different ways and / or at different densities. In so- called open blow application a density may vary in a range of e.g. 5 kg / m3- 60 kg / m3, preferably 10 kg / m3- 50 kg / m3, more preferably 15 kg / m3- 40 kg / m3, whereas in filled cavity applications the density may vary e.g. between 20 kg / m3up to 75 kg / m3, preferably 25 kg / m3up to 65 kg / m3, more preferably 30 kg / m3up to 60 kg / m3. This may result in thermal conductivity of the insulation in a range from 0,022 W / mK to 0,042 W / mK, the lower the better.

[0027] Plural webs of cellulose-based material may be fed together to a grinder. Thus, the step of subjecting of the plural webs of cellulose-based material to the common grinding operation comprises supplying the plural webs of cellulose-based material together to a common grinder. The grinder may comprise or be a mill, such as a hammer mill or, preferably a whirl mill, in particular one or more of an impact whirl mill, an air classifier mill, an air whirl mill.

[0028] Thus at least part of the common grinding operation is performed by the grinder on the webs together. This facilitates distributing the cellulose-based materials from the plural webs over the flocks while grinding; this facilitates providing a homogeneous composition of the flocks. This may facilitate controlling composition of the flocks from the cellulose-based materials from the webs, in particular from each of respective the plural webs. Several of the webs, possibly all, may be fed into the grinder as a common supply into a single supply entrance of the grinder. For that, several of the webs, possibly all, may be fed adjacent each other, possibly parallel to each other and / or layered onto each other. However, also or alternatively di f ferent webs may be fed into the grinder via di f ferent supply entrances .

[0029] Any method herein may comprise controlling a supply rate of one or more of the webs into the grinding operation; controlling supply rates of at least some of the webs into the grinding operation individually when performing the method using plural webs ; and controlling supply rates of at least some of the webs into the grinding operation as a function of grinding operation parameters . Controlling a supply rate may comprise controlling a supplying speed into a grinder .

[0030] This facilitates control over the grinding operation and / or over amounts of the cellulose-based materials from the web ( s ) in the grinding operation . Grinding operation parameters may comprise grinding ef ficiency, material consumption into and / or out of the grinding ( throughput , density of the flocks , f iberisation, etc ) , humidity of the material , etc . Therewith, composition of the flocks may be controlled . The control may comprise pushing one or more webs into a grinder and / or controlling ( and possibly at least partly counteracting) a pulling force of a grinder on the web . In case of one or more webs on a roll , controlling a supply rate may comprise controlling an unrolling rate and / or a web tension between the web roll and a grinder .

[0031] Any method herein may comprise adj usting a width of one or more of the webs , e . g . a width of one or more of the rolls , to control a supply rate of one or more of the plural webs into the grinding process and / or to determine a composition of the flocks .

[0032] Adj ustment of the width of a web may be relative to one or more other webs in the method . Adj ustment of the width of one or more of the webs may control an amount of the cellulose-based material of that web into the flocks , relative to ( that of ) the other webs . This facilitates control over the composition of the flocks . The width adj ustment may be done during supplying of the web into the grinding operation or to that, e.g. determining a width of a roll of the web prior to unrolling at least part of the roll. Width adjustment of the web allows adjusting a supplying amount of the web (e.g. supplying mass rate such as in terms of grams / second) independent from a supplying velocity (e.g. in terms of meters / second supplying speed) .

[0033] In view of the preceding, herewith is also provided a method of manufacturing a f locks-based, cellulose-based thermal and / or acoustic insulation material, which may be combined with any method presented herein before, comprising providing one or more webs of cellulose-based material on respective rolls and subjecting the one or more webs of cellulose-based material by unrolling to a grinding operation to obtain flocks comprising cellulose-based materials from the one or more webs forming the f locks-based insulation material. This method comprises folding unrolled web of one or more of the rolls prior to subjecting the folded web(s) to the grinding operation. This may reduce width of the web(s) for grinding compared to width of the web(s) on the respective roll (s) and allow use of one or more wide webs with a comparably narrower feed entrance of a grinder. Thus, for a given amount of material to be subjected to the grinding operation, less web length (in m) may be used, which may reduce load and / or wear of a supply and / or support system and may reduce requirements for exchanging rolls (e.g. frequency and / or required speed of replacing an empty roll with a new roll) . The folding may comprise folding plural webs together, in particular folding plural webs layered onto each other together. Folding a stack of plural webs layered onto each other together may facilitate controlling a supply rate of the folded webs into the grinding operation and / or facilitate the grinding operation by mixing of cellulose material of the respective webs in the grinding operation. Also or alternatively it may facilitate sandwiching thin web portions and / or -layers between thick web portions and / or -layers improving reliability of the grinding. As indicated, in any method embodiment herein, one or more additives, such as a fire retardant and / or an anti-fungal substance, may be added to the cellulose-based material during the grinding operation, this may facilitate mixing the additive (s) with the cellulose-based material and / or distributing the additive (s) with the cellulose-based material while that material is ground and / or fiberized from web to flocks .

[0034] The additive (s) may be provided to at least one of the cellulose-based materials, e.g. sprayed or sprinkled onto the material, in particular onto an unrolled portion of the material such as between the roll and a grinder, and / or it may be provided into a grinder while grinding the material. The latter option may improve mixing and / or providing a homogenous distribution through the flocks. The additive (s) may be provided volumetrically or gravimetrically for dosing the amount of additive (s) . In particular when providing the additive (s) in an intermittent or uninterrupted fashion onto the web(s) and / or into the grinder, it may be preferred to provide the additive (s) gravimetrically, which may increase control of dosing powdered and / or liquid material (in particular: small amounts of liquid material and / or liquid material in which the additive (s) is / are suspended) relative to providing the material volumetrically.

[0035] As indicated, the one or more additives may comprise a fire retardant and / or an anti-fungal substance. Some substances may provide both suitable fire retardant and an anti-fungal function. Suitable fire retardants and / or anti-fungal substances are or comprise borates and / or sulphates such as one or more of boric acid, Sodium Tetraborate Pentahydrate, Disodium Octaborate Tetrahydrate, magnesium sulphate, aluminium sulphate, aluminium trihydrate, ammonium phosphate and ammonium sulphate.

[0036] At least one of the webs of cellulose-based material, preferably each of plural webs of cellulose-based material, comprises or is essentially a paper type or board type selected from the Confederation of European Paper Industries types of:

[0037] Case Materials: Testliner, Waste based Fluting, Kraftliner,

[0038] Newsprint; Uncoated Mechanical; Uncoated Woodfree; Gypsum Liner paper grade; and Gypsum liner board grade. Such materials tend to be manufactured to high quality standards so that each such web may have well known composition and / or properties. Also, such materials tend to be manufactured as webs on rolls as a standard form, which may be used as rolls of source material for the presently provided method as set out above.

[0039] Also or alternatively, at least one of the webs of cellulose-based material, preferably each of the webs of cellulose-based material, may have a gram weight in a range of 20 grams per square meter (g / m2or "gsm") to 400 g / m2, preferably in a range of 40 g / m2to 300 g / m2such as 70 g / m2to 250 g / m2. Such materials may be well rolled and fiberised, also several layers layered onto each other may readily be ground by a grinder without requiring the grinder to be heavyweight and / or particularly robust.

[0040] Also or alternatively, at least one of the webs of cellulose-based material, preferably each of plural webs of cellulose-based material, may be material that is rejected for one or more quality criteria for web-form and / or subsequent use such as quality criteria selected from: number of too many joints, edge tear, short span compression test results, burst test results, colour, number of holes (e.g. any number of holes may be too large and cause rejection) and / or size of holes, visible spots, core damage or other reasons. Such quality criteria may affect the web for use in paper and / or board products such as (suitability for) print matter and / or packaging material, but tend not to reflect quality of the webs' cellulose material as such. Therefore such rejected webs otherwise considered waste material may directly provide or form source material of a high and reliable quality for the presently provided method. Any method embodiment may comprise providing a construction site for a building component and / or building having an insulation space , e . g . a wall cavity and / or a roof cavity, and further comprising, at the construction site : providing the building component and / or at least part of the building having the insulation space , performing any embodiment of the method disclosed herein, and arranging the flocks-based insulation material in the insulation space . The construction site may be ( at ) a building site where the building is constructed and to be used later on, and / or a production location for manufacturing building components , to be assembled into a building elsewhere ; presently, many buildings such as houses are constructed with or from pre- fabricated building components such as pre- fabricated walls , pre- fabricated roofs , etc . , which may suitably be provided with the flocks-based insulation material .

[0041] Thus , the flocks-based insulation material is manufactured and used on-site at the construction site . This facilitates providing transport and / or storage of the ( rolls of ) webs of cellulose-based material to the construction site instead of transport and / or storage of the flocks-based insulation material . Since the latter inherently contains a large volume of air while the webs need not , e . g . in case of being provided on rolls , storage- and / or transport volume and therefore costs may be signi ficantly reduced . E . g . commercially available flocks-based insulation material may nowadays typically have a density of about 50-75 kg / m3and be transported compacted to 150 kg / m3, whereas roll material may have a typical density of about five times that latter value : about 750 kg / m3(note that compacted flocks-based insulation material may need to be unpacked for use first , requiring additional process steps ) . Hence , storage and / or transport are facilitated with the method since less or no air needs to be stored / transported to a construction site . Also or alternatively, manufacturing on-site facilitates adaptation of the manufacturing method, e . g . selection of amounts of materials , and / or selection of ingredients and / or amounts thereof , to actual circumstances on the construction site . Also , pre-processing of material such as shredding, conditioning shreds ( e . g . with respect to one or more of humidity, density, and source material mixing) may be obviated . The same applies mutatis mutandis to any additives . This may improve quality .

[0042] Associated with the foregoing and providing at least some of the benefits discussed there , herewith also is provided a system for use in any method embodiment provided herein, which comprises a grinder and one or more supports for one or more webs of cellulose-based source material on a respective roll ; and being configured to operably supply the one or more webs to the grinder by unrolling, and to subj ect the one or more webs to a grinding operation to obtain flocks comprising cellulose-based materials from the one or more webs forming the flocks-based insulation material . The system further comprises one or more supply systems for one or more additives , such as a fire retardant and / or for an anti- fungal substance , and a controller configured to controllably supply the one or more additives to the grinder and / or to at least one of the webs . The one or more supply systems and / or the controller may be configured to controllably supply the one or more additives volumetrically and / or gravimetrically .

[0043] Associated with the foregoing and providing at least some of the benefits discussed there , herewith also is provided a further system for use in any method embodiment provided herein, which may suitably be combined with any other such system provided herein, and which comprises a grinder and one or more supports for plural webs of cellulose-based source material on respective rolls ; the system being configured to operably supply the plural webs to the grinder by unrolling, and to subj ect the plural webs , in particular unrolled portions of the plural webs , to a common grinding operation to obtain flocks comprising cellulose-based materials from the plural webs forming the flocks-based insulation material .

[0044] One or more of the webs of cellulose-based source material on respective rolls may be rolled onto a core , which core may be hollow . The support may comprise plural axles and / or other holders for each rotary supporting at least one of the rolls . Also or alternatively, the one or more supports may be provided with a manipulator for manipulating rolls , in particular heavy and / or bulky rolls .

[0045] The system may comprise a controller configured to control one or more of supply of one or more of the one or more webs to the grinder, in particular controlling a supplying speed into a grinder ; supply rates of at least some of plural webs into the grinding operation individually; and supply rate ( s ) of one or more of the one or more webs into the grinding operation as a function of grinding operation parameters .

[0046] The controller may be configured to control the supply of one or more of the webs , e . g . each web, on the basis of grinding ef ficiency and / or material consumption into and / or out of the grinding, e . g . in terms of one or more of material throughput , flocks densities , flocks si zes , flocks weights , and degree of f iberisation; and / or on the basis of at least one property of the web selected from : width, thickness , speci fic weight ( e . g . : gr / m2) , humidity, material composition .

[0047] The controller may be the same or di f ferent from the above-referenced controller for controlling supply of the one or more additives to the grinder and / or to at least one of the webs .

[0048] Any system disclosed herein may comprise at least one detector for detecting at least one property of at least one of the webs and / or at least one detector connected to the controller, wherein the controller may be configured to controllably supply the one or more additives to the grinder and / or the webs in response to the property .

[0049] The grinder may comprise one or more of an impact whirl mill , an air whirl mill and an air classi fier mill . Such mills may allow or promote impacting of pieces of the web material against each other within high air turbulence as a main grinding action .

[0050] The grinder may comprise a supply entrance for supplying at least some of the plural webs together . E . g . , the supply entrance may be provided with clamping rolls to clamp layers of the plural webs onto each other for ensuring a common supply rate into the grinder, at least in terms of supply velocity ( e . g . meters per second) . This may improve regulation of load on the grinder and / or throughput of material ; a residence time of material in the grinder may cause reduction of fibre si ze to undesirable small si zes .

[0051] The grinder may comprise plural grinding stages for grinding and fiberi zing into progressively smaller si zes .

[0052] Associated with the foregoing and providing at least some of the benefits discussed there , herewith also is provided a further system for use in any method embodiment provided herein, which may suitably be combined with any other such system provided herein, and which comprises a grinder and one or more supports for one or more webs of cellulose-based source material on a respective roll ; and being configured to operably supply the one or more webs to the grinder by unrolling, and to subj ect the one or more webs to a grinding operation to obtain flocks comprising cellulose-based materials from the plural webs forming the flocks-based insulation material , the system further comprising a folder for folding unrolled web of one or more of the rolls . Folding the webs may reduce replacing ( or : "reloading" ) rolls . The folder may be configured to fold plural webs together and / or to fold one or more webs from into a two- or three-ply folded configuration.

[0053] Any system disclosed herein may be transportable for transporting from a first construction site to a second construction site without substantial disassembly. E.g., the grinder and the support may be decoupled, but preferably no further disassembly is required for transportation. E.g., the system may be arranged to fit into a standard 20- or 40-foot shipping container, and / or onto a platform conforming to a 20- or 40-foot shipping container industry standard.

[0054] Any system disclosed herein may comprise a conduit for conveying the flocks from the grinder into a remote receptacle such as an insulation space of a building. The system may comprise an air supply for pneumatically conveying the flocks from the grinder into the receptacle using an air stream. At least part of such air stream may be provided by the grinder, e.g. by an air flow generated by rotary knives and / or other fiberizing members.

[0055] Thus, at least in some embodiments, a method and system are provided for manufacture of cellulose insulation effectively and at high quality on-site.

[0056] By using rolls of paper, in particular reject packaging paper such as off-specification paper, the method may connect with existing paper manufacturing and processing streams that are highly developed, e.g. in terms of specification of material properties and / or rejection parameters such as indicated herein. This provides for a reliable supply of source material.

[0057] The rolls may be sized, in particular cut to specific axial widths and transported to a construction site, preferably after being sized. Optional additives such as fire retardants and / or anti-fungal substances may also be supplied to the construction site. At the construction site, the webs may be subjected to the grinding operation with addition of additives if so desired and flocks comprising cellulose-based materials from the plural webs may be provided forming the flocks-based insulation material.

[0058] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0059] The above-described aspects will hereafter be more explained with further details and benefits with reference to the drawings showing a number of embodiments by way of example.

[0060] Fig. 1 indicates a system as provided herein;

[0061] Fig. 2 indicates a mill for use in the system;

[0062] Figs. 3A-3D indicate web folding configurations;

[0063] Fig. 4 indicates method steps for method embodiments provided herein.

[0064] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0065] It is noted that the drawings are schematic, not necessarily to scale and that details that are not required for understanding the present disclosure may have been omitted. The terms "upward", "downward", "below", "above", and the like relate to the embodiments as oriented in the drawings, unless otherwise specified. Further, elements that are at least substantially identical or that perform an at least substantially identical function are denoted by the same numeral, where helpful individualised with alphabetic suffixes.

[0066] Further, unless otherwise specified, terms like "detachable" and "removably connected" are intended to mean that respective parts may be disconnected essentially without damage or destruction of either part, e.g. excluding structures in which the parts are integral (e.g. welded or moulded as one piece) , but including structures in which parts are attached by or as mated connectors, fasteners, releasable self-fastening features, etc. The verb "to facilitate" is intended to mean "to make easier and / or less complicated", rather than "to enable".

[0067] Fig. 1 indicates a system 1 as provided herein, comprising a grinder 3 and supports 5 for plural webs 7 of cellulose-based source material on respective rolls 9. The supports 5 may allow unrolling of each web 7 from its roll 9, which unrolling may be controlled (e.g. by an optional rotary drive and / or brake; and / or by use of sensors like timing belts, diameter detection, weight detection etc; various suitable systems are known in the art) . Other embodiments (not shown) may comprise more, less, and / or differently arranged rolls of web. The supports 5 and rolls 9 thereon may be arranged in any suitable manner, e.g. aligned as shown and / or at least some being arranged above each other. Plural supports 5, e.g. three or groups of three supports, may be combined into a "roll take over systems" e.g. being rotary arranged so that rolls 9 may be replaced and / or take each other's positions e.g. when (a web 7 of) a first roll 9 is spent and another roll 9 is to supply a further web to the grinding operation; suitable "roll take over systems" are known in the art.

[0068] The unrolled portions of the webs 7 are supplied to the grinder 3 using an optional transport system 11, here comprising an optional series of rolls 12. Here, the transport system 11 arranges, as an option, the respective webs 7 into a stack 8 of layers for supplying the webs to the grinder 3 together, and here preferably at a common supply speed. For supplying the webs 7 to the grinder 3, a feeding device may be provided. E.g., here, optional clamping rolls 13 are provided to clamp layers of the plural webs 7 onto each other for ensuring a common supply rate of the webs 7 into the grinder 3, at least in terms of supply velocity (e.g. meters per second) . However, other feeding devices for feeding webs 7 into the grinder 3 may be provided, in some cases grinding and / or shredding elements of a grinder may exert a pulling force on web(s) introduced into the grinder. The transport system 11 may comprise more, less and / or different rolls and / or guides, as well as one or more (longitudinal) folding systems and / or a tensioning system for one or more of the webs 7 (not shown) between the respective roll (s) 9 and the clamping rolls 13 and / or other feeding device . Folding a web 7 longitudinally may obviate si zing a web roll 9 and / or may af fect distribution of the respective web material into the flocks .

[0069] Between the rolls and the feeding device for feeding webs 7 into the grinder 3 , possibly integrated into the feeder, a folder may be provided (not shown) for folding the webs 7 and feeding de folded webs 7 into the grinder 3 .

[0070] The system 1 further comprises a supply system 15 for supplying for one or more additives to the cellulose material , such as a fire retardant and / or for an anti- fungal substance . The shown supply system 15 comprises a receptacle 17 and a feeder 19 providing the additives from the receptacle 15 into the grinder 3 , optionally at or near a supply opening for the webs 7 . The feeder 19 may comprise one or more sensors for controlling a supply rate of one or more of the additives , in particular gravimetrically . The feeder 19 may have any suitable construction for feeding powdered and / or liquid additive . E . g . the feeder 19 may comprise one or more of conveyor belts , Archimedes-screws , pumps , scoops , valves etc .

[0071] The grinder 3 may be provided with a sieve or filter (not shown) for determining a si ze of flocks and / or fibres .

[0072] Further is shown that the system 1 comprises an optional conduit 21 for conveying flocks obtained in the grinder 3 from the grinder 3 through the conduit 21 into a remote receptacle 23 such as an insulation space of a (possibly prefab ) building component 25 . I f the grinder 3 does not provide a suf ficient air flow, an additional fan 26 or other supply system may be provided . Also or alternatively a mechanical conveyor may be provided and / or a receptacle for the flocks from which and / or with which the material is transported for further use .

[0073] Further, a controller 27 is provided operably connected with one or more devices in the system, possibly with sensors for obtaining sensor data associated with ( operation of ) the respective devices for controlling operation of at least some of the respective devices and / or operation of the system as a whole, preferably based on the sensor data.

[0074] The controller may be part of any one of the devices and / or be programmable. Also or alternatively at least part of the controller may be remote from one or more devices such as being part of and / or connected to a server and / or a handheld device via a wired and / or wireless connection, which may comprise a connection via the Internet.

[0075] Not shown for the system 1 are an optional loading and / or preparation station for rolls of webs of cellulose-based material as source material for the method. The loading and / or preparation station may comprise a roll receiving apparatus, e.g. comprising one or more of pallet machines, fork lifts, cranes, etc., and / or a roll manipulation apparatus for arranging the rolls 9 on supports 5. The loading and / or preparation station may also comprise one or mor cutters for sizing a roll, e.g. cutting (such as sawing) off a portion of one or more rolls to provide a desired axial length thereof for further use, e.g. for determining a relative amount of the respective web material in the flocks composition to be obtained. Sizing a web by cutting its width during unrolling may also be done.

[0076] Fig. 2 schematically shows an exemplary air whirl mill 3 for use in the system and method set out herein. Part of the mill 3 is formed as a conical impact mill. The mill 3 comprises a supply entrance 31 for feeding in webs of cellulose material such as a stack of webs 8. The mill 3 comprises a stator 33 and a rotor 35, defining a grinding track 37 between them. The stator 33 and / or rotor 35 are provided with protrusions 39, 41, 43 like one or more of ribs, bumps, blades, pins, chisels, etc. for impacting and agitating the material. The web material is fiberised by impacts and friction of the protrusions 39, 41, 43 and by impacts and friction of pieces of the material against each other, progressively finer. The fibers may collect to flocks 45 in the grinding track 37 and / or underneath the rotor 35 and leave the mill 3 through exit 47 as flocks 45.

[0077] In some, preferred, grinders the grinding operation may be controlled to provide control over one or more of a degree of fiberising, size (e.g. length) of fibres, size of flocks, etc. In the shown embodiment and / or the stator 33 and rotor 35 are tapered about an axis of rotation A of the rotor 35 so that axial displacement of the stator 33 and rotor 35 with respect to each other along axis A allows for adjustment of a width of the grinding track. The rotor 35 may be exchanged to provide a different rotor and / or protrusion geometry. Grinding operation may also or alternatively be controlled by adjusting rotation speed of the rotor. Increasing the width of the grinding track 37 tends to increase flock size; increasing rotor rotation speed tends to reduce residence time. Rotor geometry and build up can influence the air whirl pattern also affecting formation of flocks of the fibres.

[0078] Figs 3A-3D show exemplary ways in which a web 7 or stack of webs 8 may be folded for introduction into the grinding operation: a simple double fold (Fig. 3A) , an opposite inward fold (Fig. 3B) , a G-fold (Fig. 3C) and zigzag fold (Fig. 3D) . The latter two folding arrangements provide more than two layers and may be preferred. A zigzag folding technique may also readily provide more than three layers. Folding devices for folding a flat web into one or more of the shown folded configurations are known per se.

[0079] Fig. 4 indicates steps of a method provided herein.

[0080] In step 100 a grinding system is provided, comprising a grinder. Also, rolls of paper etc. are provided, providing webs of cellulose-based material as source material to the method. The rolls may have any suitable size. Preferably, the rolls are appropriately dimensioned for further use; otherwise one or more rolls may cut to a desired size. Suitable sizes may be 0,4 m - 2,0 m in diameter, preferably 1,0-1, 5 m, such rolls may contain up to about 70500 m of web. The rolls may have a length in axial direction of about 200 mm up to 3,5 m. If need be, at least part of one or more webs may be re-rolled from one roll size to another; suitable re-rolling devices and methods are known in the art .

[0081] The rolls may have weights in a range of about 20 - 10.000 kg, preferably in a range 100 - 2500 kg such as 125 - 2250 kg.

[0082] In step 110 the provided and possibly resized rolls of step 100 are arranged in the system, e.g. on supports 5. One or more webs are then supplied to a grinder, e.g. by feeding one or more of the webs through a transport system and into a supply system, where applicable. Plural webs are preferably supplied into the grinder together. The webs are further, in operation, supplied to the grinder by unrolling.

[0083] Step 120 comprises subjecting the one or more webs of cellulose-based material to a grinding operation, wherein plural webs may be subjected to a common grinding operation, with or without prior folding (not indicated) to obtain flocks comprising cellulose-based materials from the in or more webs forming the desired flocks-based insulation material.

[0084] Due to the grinding operation, the web material is fiberised; sizes of the fibres and / or of the flocks may be determined by the type of grinder; e.g. a hammer mill may produce small shreds and short fibres, and flocks obtained may be lumpy and may contain pieces of web material and / or clumps of fibres, whereas at least in comparison, agitation mills such as whirl mills tend to produce separated fine and long fibres, and flocks obtained may be "woolly" and / or have an even structure. The latter may be preferred. Sizes of the fibres and / or of the flocks may also or alternatively be determined by one or more of grinding duration, supply amount and / or -speed (throughput) of web material, vigor of the grinding, vigor of (allowed) interaction of the ground material with itself (e.g. fierce or gentle agitation) , possibly number of grinding steps, screens defining passage of at least part of the material (e.g. defining a cut off size for passing such screen, etc.) ; suitable techniques are known in the art. The grinding may be controlled controlling a supply rate of one or more of the webs into the grinding operation, in particular controlling a supplying speed into a grinder; controlling supply rates of at least some of the webs into the grinding operation individually; and controlling supply rates of at least some of the webs into the grinding operation as a function of grinding operation parameters .

[0085] In optional step 130 one or more optional additives are added to the material. This may be done prior to introduction of the webs into the grinder, and / or by introduction of any additives into the grinder, and / or by providing such additives onto the obtained flocks. The amount of additives (to be) added may be determined volumetrically and / or gravimetrically . An amount of additives (to be) added may be determined in dependence of desired properties of the flocks-based insulation material. Accurate control over added amounts of additives may reduce one or more of additive material consumption, waste, costs, and environmental impact, and it may improve distribution in the obtained product and / or quality. Amounts of additives like fire retardants and / or for an anti-fungal substances may be in a range of 1-20%, preferably 2-15%, more preferably 4-12%, by weight of cellulose material. Moreover, the better the source material, i.e. webs of cellulose-based material, are known and / or controlled, the better controlled (e.g. smaller) amounts of additives may be used.

[0086] In optional step 140 the obtained flocks forming the flocks-based insulation material are taken from the grinder to an insulation space of a building such as a house, an office, a warehouse, a factory etc. The insulation material may be arranged loosely into the insulation space or be at least partly compressed . As an alternative , the material may be stored and transported ( for use ) elsewhere .

[0087] In optional step 150 the system is transported to another construction site and use onsite there .

[0088] The disclosure is not restricted to the above-described embodiments which can be varied in a number of ways within the scope of the claims . For instance the flocks-based insulation material may be used for one or more of thermal packaging of products , as a growing substrate base for plants , and for acoustic damping solutions .

[0089] Elements and aspects discussed for or in relation with a particular embodiment may be suitably combined with elements and aspects of other embodiments , unless explicitly stated otherwise .

Claims

CLAIMS1. Method of manufacturing a f locks-based, cellulose- based thermal and / or acoustic insulation material, comprising providing one or more webs (7) of cellulose-based material on respective rolls (9) and subjecting the one or more webs (7) of cellulose-based material by unrolling to a grinding operation to obtain flocks (45) comprising cellulose-based materials from the one or more webs (7) forming the flocks-based insulation material, wherein the method comprises providing one or more additives (16) , such as a fire retardant and / or an anti-fungal substance, to the cellulose-based material during the grinding operation, in particular providing the one or more additives to an unrolled portion of at least of the one or more webs and / or providing the one or more additives into a grinder, and / or in particular comprising providing the one or more additives gravimetrical ly .

2. Method of manufacturing a flocks-based, cellulose- based thermal and / or acoustic insulation material, in particular the method according to claim 1, comprising providing plural webs (7) of cellulose-based material on respective rolls (9) and subjecting the plural webs (7) of cellulose-based material by unrolling to a common grinding operation to obtain flocks (45) comprising cellulose-based materials from the plural webs (7) forming the flocks-based insulation material, in particular comprising supplying the plural webs of cellulose-based material (7) together to a grinder (3) .

3. Method according to any preceding claim, comprising one or more of: controlling a supply rate of one or more of the one or more webs (7) into the grinding operation, in particular controlling a supplying speed into a grinder (3) ;controlling supply rates of at least some of plural webs (7) into the grinding operation individually; and controlling supply rates of at least some of the webs (7) into the grinding operation as a function of grinding operation parameters.

4. Method according to any preceding claim, comprising adjusting a width of at least one of the one or more webs (7) to control a supply rate of the respective web(s) into the grinding operation, and / or to determine a composition of the flocks.

5. Method of manufacturing a f locks-based, cellulose- based thermal and / or acoustic insulation material, comprising providing one or more webs (7) of cellulose-based material on respective rolls (9) and subjecting the one or more webs (7) of cellulose-based material by unrolling to a grinding operation to obtain flocks (45) comprising cellulose-based materials from the one or more webs (7) forming the flocks-based insulation material, in particular the method according to any preceding claim, the method comprising folding unrolled portion of web (7) of one or more of the rolls (9) and subjecting the folded web(s) (7) to the grinding operation.

6. Method according to any preceding claim, comprising providing one or more additives (16) , such as a fire retardant and / or an anti-fungal substance, to the cellulose-based material during the grinding operation, in particular providing one or more additives to at least one of the cellulose-based materials and / or into a grinder, and / or in particular comprising providing the one or more additives gravimetrically .

7. Method according to any preceding claim, wherein at least one of the webs (7) of cellulose-based material,preferably each of the webs (7) of cellulose-based material, comprises or is essentially a paper type or board type selected from the Confederation of European Paper Industries types of: Case Materials: Testliner, Waste based Fluting, Kraftliner, Newsprint; Uncoated Mechanical; Uncoated Woodfree; Gypsum Liner paper grade; and Gypsum liner board grade; and / or wherein at least one of the webs (7) of cellulose-based material, preferably each of the webs of cellulose-based material, has a gram weight in a range of 20 g / m2to 400 g / m2, preferably in a range of 40 g / m2to 300 g / m2such as 70 g / m2to 250 g / m2; and / or wherein at least one of the webs (7) of cellulose-based material, preferably each of the webs of cellulose-based material, is material that is rejected for one or more quality criteria for web-form and / or subsequent use, such as quality criteria selected from: number of many joints, edge tear, short span compression test results, burst test results, colour, number of holes, hole size, visible spots, core damage.

8. Method according to any preceding claim, comprising providing a construction site for a building component (25) and / or building having an insulation space (23) ; and providing a building component (25) and / or building having an insulation space (23) , performing the method according to any preceding claim, and arranging the obtained flocks (45) as flocks-based insulation material in the insulation space at the construction site.

9. System (1) for use in the method according to any preceding claim, comprising a grinder (3) and one or more supports (5) for one or more webs (7) of cellulose-based source material on a respective roll (9) ; and being configured tooperably supply the one or more webs (7) to the grinder (3) by unrolling, and to subject the one or more webs (7) to a grinding operation to obtain flocks (45) comprising cellulose-based materials from the one or more webs (7) forming the flocks-based insulation material, the system further comprising one or more supply systems (15) for one or more additives (16) , such as a fire retardant and / or for an anti-fungal substance, and a controller (27) configured to controllably supply the one or more additives to the grinder and / or to at least one of the one or more webs during the grinding operation, wherein in particular the one or more supply systems (15) and / or the controller (27) may be configured to controllably supply the one or more additives (16) gravimetrically .

10. System (1) for use in the method according to any one of claims 1-8, in particular a system according to claim 9, comprising a grinder (3) and one or more supports (5) for plural webs (7) of cellulose-based source material on respective rolls (9) ; and being configured to operably supply the plural webs (7) to the grinder (3) by unrolling, and to subject the plural webs (7) to a common grinding operation to obtain flocks (45) comprising cellulose-based materials from the plural webs (7) forming the flocks-based insulation material.

11. The system (1) according to any one of claims 9-10, comprising a controller (27) configured to control one or more of supply of one or more of the one or more webs (7) to the grinder (3) , in particular controlling a supplying speed into a grinder; supply rates of at least some of plural webs (7) into the grinding operation individually;supply rate(s) of one or more of one or more the one or more webs (7) into the grinding operation as a function of one or more grinding operation parameters; and wherein the controller is configured to control the supply based of each web (7) on the basis of at least one property of the web selected from: width, thickness, humidity, material composition.

12. The system (1) according to any one of claims 9-11, wherein the grinder (3) comprises one or more of an impact whirl mill, an air whirl mill and an air classifier mill.

13. System (1) for use in the method according to any of claims 1-8, in particular the system according to any one of claims 9-12, comprising a grinder (3) and one or more supports (5) for one or more webs (7) of cellulose-based source material on a respective roll (9) ; and being configured to operably supply the one or more webs (7) to the grinder (3) by unrolling, and to subject the one or more webs (7) to a grinding operation to obtain flocks (45) comprising cellulose-based materials from the plural webs (7) forming the flocks-based insulation material, the system further comprising a folder for folding an unrolled portion of a web (7) of one or more of the rolls (9) .

14. The system (1) according to any one of claims 9-13, wherein the system is transportable for transporting from a first construction site to a second construction site without substantial disassembly.

15. The system (1) according to any one of claims 9-14, comprising a conduit (21) for conveying the flocks (45) from the grinder (3) into a remote receptacle such as an insulation space (23) of a building or building component, preferably comprisingan air supply for pneumatically conveying the flocks from the grinder (3) into the receptacle (23) using an air stream.

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