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Pulp fibres are individual wood cells that are typically 0.5-4 mm in length
and 20 to 40 microns in diameter. The wall thickness is anywhere from 2 to
8 microns.
The most common three parameters that are used to describe a pulp
suspension is:
a) The mass concentration or consistency
b) The mean fibre length
c) The mean coarseness (the mass per unit length)
Fibres are polydisperse. That is, they have a wide length distribution, width
and coarseness distribution. An example of the average fibre length
distribution for a softwood kraft pulp is shown below.
6 -2
Normalized Fraction
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5
Length (mm)
Fibre Length Distribution (pink line).
M
w=
L
The lower the coarseness:
1. The more fibres per gram of pulp
2. The thinner the cell wall and and/or diameter is.
3. The more area is available for bonding in paper
4. The stronger the paper.
Some typical values for length and coarseness are given below:
6 -3
Note: Hardwood fibres are much shorter and less coarse than
Consistency is calculated as
2
2 ⎛L⎞
N = Cv ⎜ ⎟
3 ⎝D⎠
π Cm L2
N=
6w
Suspension behaviour
Because of their large L/D ratio (and partially owing to their flexibility), fibres
tend to cluster together to form flocs, which are typically a few millimeters
long
These inter-fibre forces may take two forms: chemical and mechanical
Such forces are always present in fibre suspensions. The nature of the
force may differ as shown in the figure on the following page: (a) hooking of
long fibres; (b) hooking of fibrillated surfaces; (c) frictional forces caused by
normal forces
The latter friction forces are of particular importance because they give
fibre networks substantial strength. The friction comes from normal forces
resulting from fibre bending. This normal force arises when fibres are
locked into a bent mode in the network, which itself occurs when fibre
suspensions are sheared
Even after the cessation of shearing, the inter-fibre forces maintain the
integrity of the flocs
In other words, the pulp suspension acts like a non-Newtonian fluid with a
finite yield stress (like a Bingham plastic). This yield stress is a function of
the consistency and the type of pulp tested
Pulp suspension can only flow once this shear stress is exceeded in the
suspension
Once the suspension starts to flow, the flow can be in the form of flocs
slipping past flocs, or individual fibres slipping past one another
The shear stress required to get pulp suspension to flow is generally higher
than would be attained in laminar flow, so industrially it is only sensible to
speak of turbulent pulp flow
The level of energy dissipation directly reflects the turbulent shear of the
small scale eddies. This shear causes fibre level fluidization
Several workers have measured power dissipation per unit volume required
to cause fibre suspension fluidization
Note that the above equation for εF requires that Cm be given in percent
and εF is in W/m3
6 -11
Owing to the finite yield stress of pulp suspension, for pulp flow in pipes, as
the velocity in pulp suspension flow increases, the flow passes through 3
flow regimes: plug flow, mixed flow, and turbulent flow. The existence of
multiple flow regimes is typical of all multiphase flows
In the plug flow regime the pulp suspension flows as a solid, with pulp
fibres scraping along the pipe wall
As the flow velocity increases fibres migrate from the wall, creating a clear
water annulus between the plug and the wall
The central core of the pipe still flows as a plug, but an annulus near the
wall consists of a turbulent mixture of water and fibre
Finally, at very high velocities the shear stress everywhere in the fluid is
high enough to break flocs, and the resulting flow regime is turbulent.
6 -12
The fundamental reason for turbulent drag reduction is still not fully
understood. However, it is also observed in linear polymer suspensions
and is an excellent research area in turbulent particle suspension.
These different flow regimes, coupled with turbulent drag reduction lead to
very peculiar system curves. For a simple pipe flow with no elevation
change our system curve is:
Vw
hl
Vmax
The above friction loss behaviour gives a pumping “system curve” that may
have three intersection points with a typical pump curve. This makes pump
selection difficult
6 -13
Some past design correlations merely used extrapolations of the first part
of the loss curve, resulting in significantly over-designed pumps. A modern
means of sizing pumps is the Tappi TIS 410-14 procedure, shown on the
following page
6 -14
Example,
This example looks at how to ‘estimate’ the head loss in pulp pipe flow
Remember the Energy Balance in one dimension (for example, MECH 280,
White Ch. 3.6)
⎛ P V2 ⎞ ⎛ P V2 ⎞
⎜ + + z⎟ = ⎜ + + z ⎟ + h friction − hpump + hturbine
⎝ ρ g 2 g ⎠in ⎝ ρ g 2 g ⎠out
h = head loss/gain (in units of meters)
Tank A
1%
SWK
Pulp
10m Tank B
100 mm
2m