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Next-Generation Pulping.

Increasing Fiber Yield and Pulping Efficiency

Goal and Strategy

Develop next-generation chemical pulping processes that preserve fiber strength and pulp performance attributes while achieving one or more of the following: 
  • Reduce total energy 25%, increase yield 5 percentage points
  • Develop advanced pulping technologies to increase the fiber yield and strategies to keep the yield gains throughout the bleaching process
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R&D Needs 
​
Break the bleachable-yield barrier
  • ​Develop a cost-effective bleach sequence for higher Kappa pulping processes with similar or better loadings to the waste treatment plant compared to current bleach processes
  • Develop non-chlorine-based lignin activators to  improve O2 delignification selectivity
​​Discover new, practical catalysts for pulping, oxygen delignification, and bleaching
  • Complete a computational chemistry study to screen categories of potential catalyst
  • Identify higher-performing catalysts for strength, yield, and selectivity improvement
Wood pretreatment chemistries to activate reactive sites in the lignin matrix, predisposing them to be readily available to subsequent pulping processes
  • Develop a chip activation method to facilitate pulping selectivity
  • Explore oxidative alkaline pretreatments to remove a portion of hemicelluloses while activating lignin to subsequent kraft cooking conditions​

High-Priority Projects
Yield-protective pretreatment 
Primary peeling of cellulose and glucomannan occurs during the initial phase of kraft pulping at high alkalinity and high temperatures. Peeling causes about 12.5% oven-dried weight yield loss for softwood. In this project, softwood and hardwood chips will be pretreated at low alkalinity and at relatively low temperature to minimize primary peeling. 
Status: Launched February 21, 2017; a 3% yield increase in the lab has been reported, against the target of 5%.  Year two is in progress with support from APPTI member companies. A related project to understand pre-treatment reactions is underway funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s High-Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) Program.
PI: Adriaan Van Heiningen, University of Maine; Brandon Knott, NREL; Jerry Parks, ORNL
  
​Catalytic Delignification of wood - High Performance Computing for Manufacturing Project
Catalytic methods offer a viable alternative to kraft pulping to increase cellulose fiber yield by improving selectivity, reducing energy use and eliminating the formation of odor-causing mercaptans associated with kraft pulping. This project will employ a coupled computational/experimental approach to develop cobalt-based catalysts that can delignify wood. Computational chemistry will be used to guide the rational design and predict the performance of prospective catalysts prior to synthesis, accelerating the development process. ​
Status: Launched October 1, 2017. ORNL has completed the computer modeling of the mechanism of a leading candidate catalyst.  Company testing is currently being undertaken using developed protocols.  Insights into mechanisms are being gained.
​​PI: Jerry Parks, Oak Ridge National Laboratory with University of Tennessee-Knoxville; US Forest Service

High-Kappa pulp - Improve oxygen delignification selectivity 
This project seeks to increase pulp yield from 55 to 60% by raising the kappa # significantly. However, this increase in Kappa causes poor bonding and low board strength due to the lack of available bonding sites. Thus, this project will seek to substantially modify the surface lignin so that the fiber bonding can be improved without a concomitant significant loss in yield. 
Status: Launched February 16, 2017. It has been demonstrated that pulping to a higher kappa number can increase the yield by 5%.  However to get the strength to match lower kappa it was necessary to further treat the pulp.  More refining energy was necessary. We feel that further improvements in strength may be possible by optimization of the refining strategy.  
PI:  Hasan Jameel, North Carolina State University
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  • Home
  • Mission & Vision
  • News
  • Technology Portfolio
    • Portfolio Overview
    • Goals & Projects > >
      • Black Liquor Concentration
      • Next Generation Pulping
      • Reduce Drying Energy
      • Reuse of Process Effluents
      • Cellulose Nanomaterials
      • Packaging Testing
    • Technology Roadmaps (Downloads)
  • MEMBERS & PARTNERS
    • Becoming a Member/Partner
    • Current Members & Partners
    • For Government Officials
    • For Universities
  • Forest Products
  • ABOUT US
    • About APPTI
    • APPTI Milestones
  • Contact