scholarly journals Characterization of packaging grade papers from recycled raw materials through the study of fibre morphology and composition

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-28

The restrictions in availability of forest-based raw materials along with favourable environmental policies towards alternative sources of raw materials have forced corrugated packaging industry to shift towards recycled paper and other fibre sources such as non-wood and agro-residues. The variability in raw pulp materials with increasing percentages of recycled fibres is a very common technical problem for the corrugated packaging industry worldwide. Corrugating packaging production is facing the challenge to ensure a satisfactory strength of packages despite the increase of recycled paper as the main fibrous component. Sustainable manufacturing of papers of consistent and acceptable quality requests comprehensive characterization of the fibrous components, which are becoming more heterogeneous. Understanding the influence that heterogeneous recycled raw materials have on packaging grade paper properties offers great potential value to the corrugated board and packaging industry. 57 linerboards and corrugating medium were selected to represent all the variety of paper grades available on the market at the moment for the production of corrugated board in Spain. The papers were analyzed for their fibre morphology (fibre length, fibre width, lumen diameter, cell wall width and flexibility) and fibre composition (softwood to hardwood and nonwood fibre count and weight) and their strength (compression, bursting and crushing resistance) was evaluated. All the determinations were in accordance with the relevant TAPPI Test Methods. The significant differences found in most of the anatomical characteristics, fibre composition and strength properties among the paper grades reflected the diverse raw materials used for their production as well as their qualitative differences. By means of simple correlation the influence of fibre characteristics and composition on the strength of the papers was determined under two different conditions, at 23 oC and 50% RH and at 20 oC and 90% RH. The results demonstrate that besides the physical-mechanical characterization of packaging grade papers, fibre anatomy and composition can be used successfully as a complementary practical test to predict the performance of papers. The application of the predicting correlations is proposed for the evaluation of the fibre supplies for the packaging industry. An enormous potential for cost reduction can be created by the selection of the most appropriate and inexpensive combination of grade papers for a specific packaging use.

IAWA Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Qian-Qian Jiang ◽  
Zhang-Chao Ding ◽  
Chang-Qing Lu ◽  
Jun-Lan Gao ◽  
Yan Yan ◽  
...  

Abstract The anatomical structure of the bamboo stem is characterized by vascular bundles comprising the xylem, phloem, and sclerenchyma fibrous sheaths as well as parenchymatous ground tissue in which the vascular bundles are embedded. The composition of the stem is the main factor influencing the anatomical characteristics of circular bamboo, which shows considerable variation in the radial direction. However, most species of Chimonobambusa have square stems. Here, we tested the hypothesis that circumferential variation exists in the cross-sectional anatomy of this species. We analysed fibre morphology and the cross-sectional structural characteristics of vascular bundles of Chimonobambusa quadrangularis (Fenzi) Makino and their associated circumferential and radial variation in cross-sections. Microscopic observations were conducted to identify, measure, and compare fibre morphology and the structural characteristics of vascular bundles, including both circumferential and radial anatomical variation. Vascular bundles occurred as undifferentiated, semi-differentiated, and open types in the radial direction with no changes in the circumferential direction. The average length, width, and ratio of fibre length to width were 1463.6 μm, 12.3 μm and 119.3 in the corner region, and 1452.7 μm, 12.8 μm, and 111.3 in the side region, and there were significant circumferential and radial differences in length, width, and the ratio of fibre length to width (). The circumferential variation in density of vascular bundles, the ratio of fibre length to width, radial to tangential diameter ratio of vascular bundles, and the proportion of sclerenchyma were greater in the corner regions than the side regions. The variation in fibre width and the proportion of parenchyma were greater in the corner regions than in the side regions. The density of vascular bundles and proportions of sclerenchyma were greater in the outer stem compared to the inner stem, whereas the length, width, and ratio of fibre length to width were greatest in the centre compared to the inner and outer zones. Circumferential variation of the density of vascular bundles, fibre length and fibre width occurred in the central and outer stem zones. These findings confirm that there are significant anatomical variations in both the circumferential and radial directions and provide a scientific basis for the rational use of Chimonobambusa quadrangularis.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3564
Author(s):  
Arnas Majumder ◽  
Laura Canale ◽  
Costantino Carlo Mastino ◽  
Antonio Pacitto ◽  
Andrea Frattolillo ◽  
...  

The building sector is known to have a significant environmental impact, considering that it is the largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions of around 36% and is also responsible for about 40% of global energy consumption. Of this, about 50% takes place during the building operational phase, while around 10–20% is consumed in materials manufacturing, transport and building construction, maintenance, and demolition. Increasing the necessity of reducing the environmental impact of buildings has led to enhancing not only the thermal performances of building materials, but also the environmental sustainability of their production chains and waste prevention. As a consequence, novel thermo-insulating building materials or products have been developed by using both locally produced natural and waste/recycled materials that are able to provide good thermal performances while also having a lower environmental impact. In this context, the aim of this work is to provide a detailed analysis for the thermal characterization of recycled materials for building insulation. To this end, the thermal behavior of different materials representing industrial residual or wastes collected or recycled using Sardinian zero-km locally available raw materials was investigated, namely: (1) plasters with recycled materials; (2) plasters with natural fibers; and (3) building insulation materials with natural fibers. Results indicate that the investigated materials were able to improve not only the energy performances but also the environmental comfort in both new and in existing buildings. In particular, plasters and mortars with recycled materials and with natural fibers showed, respectively, values of thermal conductivity (at 20 °C) lower than 0.475 and 0.272 W/(m⋅K), while that of building materials with natural fibers was always lower than 0.162 W/(m⋅K) with lower values for compounds with recycled materials (0.107 W/(m⋅K)). Further developments are underway to analyze the mechanical properties of these materials.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 3786
Author(s):  
Tomasz Garbowski ◽  
Anna Knitter-Piątkowska ◽  
Damian Mrówczyński

The corrugated board packaging industry is increasingly using advanced numerical tools to design and estimate the load capacity of its products. This is why numerical analyses are becoming a common standard in this branch of manufacturing. Such trends cause either the use of advanced computational models that take into account the full 3D geometry of the flat and wavy layers of corrugated board, or the use of homogenization techniques to simplify the numerical model. The article presents theoretical considerations that extend the numerical homogenization technique already presented in our previous work. The proposed here homogenization procedure also takes into account the creasing and/or perforation of corrugated board (i.e., processes that undoubtedly weaken the stiffness and strength of the corrugated board locally). However, it is not always easy to estimate how exactly these processes affect the bending or torsional stiffness. What is known for sure is that the degradation of stiffness depends, among other things, on the type of cut, its shape, the depth of creasing as well as their position or direction in relation to the corrugation direction. The method proposed here can be successfully applied to model smeared degradation in a finite element or to define degraded interface stiffnesses on a crease line or a perforation line.


Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1411
Author(s):  
José Luis P. Calle ◽  
Marta Ferreiro-González ◽  
Ana Ruiz-Rodríguez ◽  
Gerardo F. Barbero ◽  
José Á. Álvarez ◽  
...  

Sherry wine vinegar is a Spanish gourmet product under Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Before a vinegar can be labeled as Sherry vinegar, the product must meet certain requirements as established by its PDO, which, in this case, means that it has been produced following the traditional solera and criadera ageing system. The quality of the vinegar is determined by many factors such as the raw material, the acetification process or the aging system. For this reason, mainly producers, but also consumers, would benefit from the employment of effective analytical tools that allow precisely determining the origin and quality of vinegar. In the present study, a total of 48 Sherry vinegar samples manufactured from three different starting wines (Palomino Fino, Moscatel, and Pedro Ximénez wine) were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The spectroscopic data were combined with unsupervised exploratory techniques such as hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA), as well as other nonparametric supervised techniques, namely, support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF), for the characterization of the samples. The HCA and PCA results present a clear grouping trend of the vinegar samples according to their raw materials. SVM in combination with leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) successfully classified 100% of the samples, according to the type of wine used for their production. The RF method allowed selecting the most important variables to develop the characteristic fingerprint (“spectralprint”) of the vinegar samples according to their starting wine. Furthermore, the RF model reached 100% accuracy for both LOOCV and out-of-bag (OOB) sets.


Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Vayia Xanthopoulou ◽  
Ioannis Iliopoulos ◽  
Ioannis Liritzis

The present study deals with the characterization of a ceramic assemblage from the Late Mycenaean (Late Helladic III) settlement of Kastrouli, at Desfina near Delphi, Central Greece using various analytical techniques. Kastrouli is located in a strategic position supervising the Mesokampos plateau and the entire peninsula and is related to other nearby coeval settlements. In total 40 ceramic sherds and 8 clay raw materials were analyzed through mineralogical, petrographic and microstructural techniques. Experimental briquettes (DS) made from clayey raw materials collected in the vicinity of Kastrouli, were fired under temperatures (900 and 1050 °C) in oxidizing conditions for comparison with the ancient ceramics. The petrographic analysis performed on thin sections prepared from the sherds has permitted the identification of six main fabric groups and a couple of loners. The aplastic inclusions recognized in all fabric groups but one confirmed the local provenance since they are related to the local geology. Fresh fractures of representative sherds were further examined under a scanning electron microscope (SEM/EDS) helping us to classify them into calcareous (CaO > 6%) and non-calcareous (CaO < 6%) samples (low and high calcium was noted in earlier pXRF data). Here, the ceramic sherds with broad calcium separation are explored on a one-to-one comparison on the basis of detailed mineralogical microstructure. Moreover, their microstructure was studied, aiming to estimate their vitrification stage. The mineralogy of all studied samples was determined by means of X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), permitting us to test the validity of the firing temperatures revealed by the SEM analysis. The results obtained through the various analytical techniques employed are jointly assessed in order to reveal potters’ technological choices.


Cosmetics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Giovanni Tafuro ◽  
Alessia Costantini ◽  
Giovanni Baratto ◽  
Stefano Francescato ◽  
Laura Busata ◽  
...  

As public attention on sustainability is increasing, the use of polysaccharides as rheological modifiers in skin-care products is becoming the first choice. Polysaccharide associations can be used to increase the spreading properties of products and to optimize their sensorial profile. Since the choice of natural raw materials for cosmetics is wide, instrumental methodologies are useful for formulators to easily characterize the materials and to create mixtures with specific applicative properties. In this work, we performed rheological and texture analyses on samples formulated with binary and ternary associations of polysaccharides to investigate their structural and mechanical features as a function of the concentration ratios. The rheological measurements were conducted under continuous and oscillatory flow conditions using a rotational rheometer. An immersion/de-immersion test conducted with a texture analyzer allowed us to measure some textural parameters. Sclerotium gum and iota-carrageenan imparted high viscosity, elasticity, and firmness in the system; carob gum and pectin influenced the viscoelastic properties and determined high adhesiveness and cohesiveness. The results indicated that these natural polymers combined in appropriate ratios can provide a wide range of different textures and that the use of these two complementary techniques represents a valid pre-screening tool for the formulation of green products.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 3079
Author(s):  
Beata Jaworska ◽  
Dominika Stańczak ◽  
Joanna Tarańska ◽  
Jerzy Jaworski

The generation of energy for the needs of the population is currently a problem. In consideration of that, the biomass combustion process has started to be implemented as a new source of energy. The dynamic increase in the use of biomass for energy generation also resulted in the formation of waste in the form of fly ash. This paper presents an efficient way to manage this troublesome material in the polymer–cement composites (PCC), which have investigated to a lesser extent. The research outlined in this article consists of the characterization of biomass fly ash (BFA) as well as PCC containing this waste. The characteristics of PCC with BFA after 3, 7, 14, and 28 days of curing were analyzed. Our main findings are that biomass fly ash is suitable as a mineral additive in polymer–cement composites. The most interesting result is that the addition of biomass fly ash did not affect the rheological properties of the polymer–cement mortars, but it especially influenced its compressive strength. Most importantly, our findings can help prevent this byproduct from being placed in landfills, prevent the mining of new raw materials, and promote the manufacture of durable building materials.


2019 ◽  
Vol 323 (2) ◽  
pp. 861-874
Author(s):  
Predrag Kuzmanović ◽  
Nataša Todorović ◽  
Jovana Nikolov ◽  
Jovana Knežević ◽  
Bojan Miljević

2010 ◽  
Vol 174 ◽  
pp. 525-530
Author(s):  
Li Qiang Huang ◽  
Mo Liu

This paper presented a novel tape, which was used to open the corrugated cartons more easily and quickly. Structure of the tear tape consisted of backing materials (acrylic fibers), adhesive (acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive) and release paper. Prepared tear tapes with different thickness, analyzed the influence of tear tape thickness on performance of open system and added them to the corrugated board, then tested the opening properties of the corrugated board above. The results indicate that the tape, with 0.18mm in thickness and about 25mm in width, can split high quantitative corrugated board smoothly, the tensile strength for opening is 105N at maximum, which means these tape can satisfy the needs of easy-to-open technique.


2013 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1327-1339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atipan Saimmai ◽  
Satianpong Udomsilp ◽  
Suppasil Maneerat

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