Prevention of fouling on paper machine surfaces

Abstract Fouling in papermaking causes major economic drawbacks due to downtime of process and paper quality defects. The surface fouling is a complex phenomenon in a paper making process, which is affected by several interconnected factors such as process environment changes from wet to dry with increasing temperature along with the variety of sticky materials present in paper raw materials. These impurities, such as waxes, coating binders, hot melts and pressure-sensitive adhesives have a tendency to attach to the surfaces of machinery during paper production and cause surface fouling. The focus of this thesis was on the mechanisms of sticking and surface fouling on a paper machine surfaces caused by problematic sticky organic materials. The sticking potential of six styrene–butadiene latices varying in carboxylation degree, crosslinking density and viscoelasticity and one polyacrylate pressure sensitive adhesive were studied using a cylindrical probe tack method under dry and aqueous conditions. Sticking potential was measured using low and high energy surfaces as an adherent. Also a new practical method for the on-site evaluation of nonstick properties of cylinder coating materials was developed. This method enables monitoring the condition of the coating during its life cycle and also provides the opportunity to compare the performance of different drying cylinder coating materials. The research performed clearly showed that low viscoelastic modulus of latex increases sticking tendency. The results also showed that presence of water can either increase or decrease adhesion depending on the moisture content ant the physic-chemical properties of sticky materials. A low surface energy coating strongly decreases sticking compared to a high energy surface and have a lower susceptibility to fouling in the dry environment. In aqueous conditions, the use of high-energy surfaces decreases adhesion of latices due to their strong interaction with water. Also, the results indicated that carboxylation decreases sticking potential of latex in both dry and aqueous environments.Tiivistelmä Paperikoneiden likaantuminen aiheuttaa suuria tuotannollisia menetyksiä johtuen tuotantoprosessin katkoksista ja paperin laadun ongelmista. Paperikoneen pintojen likaantuminen on monimutkainen prosessi, johon vaikuttavat monet toisistaan riippuvat tekijät ja siten likaantumisilmiötä on vaikea hallita. Paperin raaka-aineet voivat sisältää epäpuhtauksia, kuten vahoja, kuumasulate- ja tarraliimoja, jotka tarttuvat paperikoneen pintoihin aiheuttaen niiden likaantumista. Lisäksi paperin prosessiympäristö muuttuu märästä kuivaan valmistusprosessin edetessä ja lämpötilan kasvaa samanaikaisesti. Tässä väitöskirjassa on kuvattu paperikoneen pintojen likaantumisen mekanismeja ja erityisesti orgaanisten lika-aineiden tarttumista. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin probe tack -menetelmää käyttäen kuuden erilaisen styreeni-butadieenilateksin ja polyakrylaattitarraliiman tarttuvuutta matalan ja korkean pintaenergian pinnoilla sekä kuivissa että märissä olosuhteissa. Työhön oli valittu latekseja, joiden karboksylointiaste, ristisilloitustiheys ja viskoelastiset ominaisuuden olivat erilaisia. Lisäksi väitöskirjatyössä kehitettiin paikan päällä suoritettava mittausmenetelmä paperikoneen kuivaussylinterien pinnoitteen puhtaana pysyvyyden määrittämiseksi. Tällä menetelmällä voidaan mitata pinnoitteiden kuntoa niiden elinkaaren aikana ja myös vertailla erilaisia pinnoitteita keskenään. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittivat, että styreeni-butadieenilateksien matala kimmokerroin lisää niiden tarttumista paperikoneen pinnoille. Veden läsnäolo voi joko lisätä tai vähentää tarttumista riippuen veden määrästä ja lika-aineiden fysiokemiallisista ominaisuuksista. Myös paperikoneen pinnoitteen pintaenergia vaikuttaa tarttuvuuteen. Paperikoneen pinnoitteiden pieni pinta-energia vähentää tarttumista kuivissa olosuhteissa, kun taas korkean pintaenergian pinnoitteet vähentävät lateksien tarttuvuutta vesiolosuhteissa. Lisäksi lateksien karboksylointi vähentää niiden tarttumista sekä kuivissa että märissä olosuhteissa

Castor oil-based biopolyurethane reinforced with wood microfibers derived from mechanical pulp

Abstract Wood fibers with high lignin content show promise to function in numerous applications with advantageous properties if the fiber features are appropriately exploited. The present study introduces a new approach to disintegrate and disperse wood fibers from groundwood pulp (GWP) directly to polyol without additional solvent exchanges or chemical modifications. In comparison bleached chemical pulp with low lignin content was ground in the polyol, but only low consistency (1 wt%) operation was possible, whereas up to 5 wt% consistency with GWP was carried out with ease. The micron sized fibers in polyol were reacted with polymeric diphenylmethane diisocyanate to produce fiber reinforced biopolyurethane (bioPU) composites. The mechanical properties of the composites improved compared to reference bioPU showing 14.6% increase in Young’s modulus, 54.5% in tensile strength and 26.1% in strain at break. The tan δ peaks shifted to higher temperature from 5.5 to 10.4 °C when fibers up to 5.1 wt% were incorporated to bioPU. Overall, the bulk microfibers from GWP with low degree of processing were cost-effective reinforcements for bioPUs, which improved the qualities of the fabricated composites and showed good compatibility with polyurethane

Mechanical fabrication of high-strength and redispersible wood nanofibers from unbleached groundwood pulp

Abstract In the past, the direct production of lignin-containing nanofibers from wood materials has been very limited, and nanoscale fibers (nanocelluloses) have been mainly isolated from chemically delignified, bleached cellulose pulp. In this study, we have introduced a newly adapted, heat-intensified disc nanogrinding process for the enhanced nanofibrillation of wood nanofibers (WNF) with a high lignin content (27.4 wt%). The WNF produced this way have many unique and intriguing properties in their naturally occurring form, for example, being able to be dispersed in ethanol and having ethanol solution viscosities higher than water solution viscosities. When WNF nanopapers were formed with ethanol, the properties of the nanofibers were recoverable without a notable decrease in the viscosity or mechanical strength after redispersing them in water. The preservation of lignin in the WNF was noticed as an increase in the water contact angles (89°), the rapid removal of water in the fabrication of the nanopapers, and the enhanced strength of the nanopapers when subjected to high pressure and heat. The nanopapers fabricated from the WNF were mechanically stable, having an elastic modulus of 6.2 GPa, a maximum stress of 103.4 MPa, and a maximum strain of 3.5%. Throughout the study, characteristics of the WNF were compared to those of the delignified and bleached reference cellulose nanofibers. We envision that the exciting characteristics of the WNF and their lower cost of production compared to that of bleached cellulose nanofibers may offer new opportunities for nanocellulose and biocomposite research