Chemical Process Industries

ChE 4209
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Pulp & Paper

Introduction 3
Pulp and paper are commonly made from wood. Wood
consists of cellulose in combination with a complex
network polymer called lignin.

Cellulose
 A naturally occurring polymer made up of repeating
glucose units (polysaccharide) which is a major
component in woody plants and considered as the
most abundant organic substance available.
 Cellulose fibers are base ingredient for pulp and
paper manufacturing, extracted from wood.

Lignin
 Second most abundant organic material on earth.
 It is the polymeric compounds binding the cellulose
together.
 It has to be removed from wood pulp in order to
harvest the cellulose fibers.
Pulp Manufacturing 4
RAW MATERIALS
1. Deciduous (hard) wood
2. Coniferous (soft) wood - preferably used because the fibers are longer.

PULPING PROCESSES – the goal is to release the fibrous cellulose from lignin while keeping
the hemicellulose and celluloses intact to increase the yield of useful fibers.
• Kraft Pulping
• Soda Pulping
• Sulfite Pulping
• Semi-chemical or NSSC Pulping
• Mechanical and Thermomechanical Pulping
• New pulping processes
• Secondary Fiber Pulping
• Rag Pulping
Pulp Manufacturing 5
• KRAFT PULPING
 From the German word Kraft = strong, Resulted from basic experiments conducted by
Dahl in 1884 in Danzig.
 An alkaline process used for the production of wood pulp, by digestion of wood chips
at elevated temperature and pressure in a solution of caustic soda (NaOH), sodium
sulfide (Na2S) and sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) known as the cooking “white” liquor,
to chemically dissolve the lignin.
 Commonly referred to as Sulfate Process, because sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) is used as
make-up chemical for the cooking liquor.
 Brown Stock – chips produced from digester together with liquor.
 Black liquor – spent cooking liquor, recovered and processed to produce Green
Liquor.
 Green Liquor – Smelt dissolved in water. The solution is then converted back to White
Liquor by adding slaked lime.
 Smelt – the molten inorganic chemicals recovered from burning black liquor in
smelting furnace.
 Flowchart, p.619 Textbook
Pulp Manufacturing 6
• SODA PULPING
 similar to Sulfate Pulping procedure using NaOH/ Na2CO3 as white liquor with Na2CO3
as the make-up chemical.

• SULFITE PULPING
 Procedure is almost the same as sulfate pulping, except the liquor is made of calcium
[Ca (HSO3)2] or magnesium bisulfite [Mg(HSO3)2] and treated with sulfur dioxide.
However, the magnesium bisulfite is more acceptable due to its recoverability.
 Brown/Red Liquor – spent cooking “bisulfite” liquor.
 Slaked Magnesium Oxide [Mg(OH)2] is used instead of lime, and mixed with Sulfur
dioxide to make fresh bisulfite liquor.
 Flowchart p.623 Textbook
Pulp Manufacturing 7
• SEMICHEMICAL OR NEUTRAL SULFITE SEMI-CHEMICAL (NSSC) PULPING
 The concept is to make a mild cook weaken the binding material (lignin) between
fibers, then separate by mechanical means.
 Sodium sulfite buffered with sodium carbonate is the usual cooking medium. However,
Kraft green liquor can also be used.
 See Table 33.3, p.616 Textbook for Process comparison.

• MECHANICAL & THERMOMECHANICAL PULPING

 Produce mechanical/Groundwood pulp.
 No use of cooking liquors to separate pulp from lignin.
 Uses grindstone, grinding the debarked logs to tear the fibers apart.
 Water is used in the process to remove heat of friction.
 The only chemical change in the process is a slight hydration of cellulose due to long
contact with warm water.
 Used in cheaper grades of paper, but rarely used alone. It is usually mixed with
chemical pulp to add strength and improve color of paper (ex. Newsprint)
 Thermomechanical pulping uses elevated temperature in the process. The fiber
obtained is used to make fiberboard by coating it with lignin.
Pulp Manufacturing 8
• NEW PULPING PROCESSES
 Solvent Pulping – use of solvents such as ethanol, phenol and other delignifying
solvents that contain no sulfur.
 Holopulping – uses chlorine dioxide as a pulping agent.
 Straight oxygen and nitric acid pulping
 Use of anthraquinone – as catalyst in ordinary pulping processes.

• SECONDARY FIBER PULPING

 Repulping of recycled paper.
 Secondary fiber is worth 5 times its value as waste paper.
 Largest single use is in the manufacture of multi-ply cylinder board. Examples:
chipboard, mill board, folding boxboard, combination Manila board, container
board, and set-up board.
Pulp Manufacturing 9
• RAG PULPING
 Cotton in the form of rags or cotton linters are used in making paper.
 Old rags make pulp suitable only for felts. Raw materials are from textile industry.
 Paper made from rags has a much longer storage life than that made from wood
fiber.

DISSOLVING PULP
 Done by post-treatment of high-quality sulfite pulp with sodium hydroxide or from pre-
hydrolyzed sulfate pulp to obtain α-cellulose used for making cellulose derivatives.
 Cotton linters are almost pure α-cellulose, natural cellulose fibers.
Paper Manufacturing 10
Paper – is a sheet material
made of fibers which are held
together by hydrogen bonds.
Involves beating and refining
process.

WET PROCESS
 fiber suspension in water is
made and it is then made
into sheet and dried. Paper
making process is generally
done on Fourdrinier
machine.
 Beater also known as
Hollander mechanically
disintegrates pulp fibers to
make paper stronger, more
uniform, more dense, more
opaque and less porous.
Paper Manufacturing 11
 Refining is done through conical refiner also called Jordan Engine, where pulp is
deformed, defibered and dispersed but not cut. Fillers and dyes are added during the
process to obtain the desired paper quality.
 Alum is added to coat the fibers and coagulate materials.
 Sizing is added to improve resistance to liquids. Sizing agent is Rosin soap from tall oil;
wax emulsions are also used.

2 Types of Conventional Wet Process Paper Machines:

1. Fourdrinier Machine
2. Cylindrical Machine – used for manufacture of heavy paper, cardboard and non-
uniform paper.
 Both machines form the paper by raining water from dilute fiber mix through a fine
screen and both dry the mat formed by dewatering with rollers, drying on heated
rollers, and smoothing with calenders.
Paper Manufacturing 12
STRUCTURAL BOARDS
 Fiberboards
• Rigid and semi-rigid sheets formed by wet- or dry-felting of fibers.
• Fiber used is usually from soft or hardwoods, cull timber, and mill residues.
• Wood is pulped by mechanical, thermomechanical or explosive processes.
• Phenol-formaldehyde resin is used as adhesive.
 Particle board
• uses sawdust, shavings, wood flakes
• Used for subflooring, core stock for veneered furniture, decorative paneling, or as
replacement to plywood and lumber for some structural applications.
 Paper-base laminates
• Termed as resin-filled or resin-impregnated.
• Multiple sheets of resin-treated paper bonded together under high pressure and
heat.
• Typically useful in the building industry due to its stability and strength.
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Questions?
Group Work: Assignment 14
Assignment: Submit individual assignments by group. Typewritten, short bond-paper.
Explore further one of the “new” pulping processes, or find another pulping process not
mentioned in the textbook.
1. Provide short introduction
2. Discuss the manufacturing process (flowcharts, chemical reactions, etc.)
3. Impacts to society, people, environment, etc.
4. Recommendations for improvement/further studies

2-page report only.

Group score = Ave. of individual scores
Due: Prelim date