Pretreatment strategies for high yield pulps

Project leader
Louise Logenius, MIUN

Project group
Birgitta Engberg, MIUN
Helena Fjellström, MIUN
Jan-Erik Berg, MIUN
Carl-Henrik Ljungqvist, Stora Enso
Anders Moberg, Stora Enso
Frank Peng, Stora Enso
Marius Rusu, Stora Enso
Göran Bengtsson, Stora Enso
Jonas Jonsson, Holmen/Iggesund
Staffan Berg, Holmen/Iggesund
Anette Karlsson, SCA R&D Centre
Bengt Wikman, SCA R&D Centre

The project objective is to develop new strategies for 30% reduction in the energy consumed when producing high yield pulps while maintaining important quality parameters at comparable levels as today or higher (TMP, cTMP, CTMP).

The reduction in energy consumption shall be achieved by

• opening up the wood structure, making the outer fibre wall more accessible to chemical treatment
• selectively treating the fibre wall with chemicals in one or several stages when producing high yield pulp
• optimizing the fibre swelling for the processes of interest

Different pretreatment strategies will be used such as oxidation, sulphonation or a combination of treatments. Hypothesis: By studying the mechanical response of wood material subjected to different pretreatments, the changes in mechanical properties can be used to suggest altered refining conditions to improve energy efficiency in refining.