TMP properties and refiner conditions in a CD82 chip refiner at different operation points. Part II: Comparison of the five tests

This paper is part two of a study on a CD 82 TMP chip refiner where relations between changes in the process conditions and changes in the properties of the produced pulp are investigated. Focus is on the ratio between tensile index and specific energy consumption when results from five tests are compared. Pulp properties were measured for composite pulp samples taken from the refiner blow line. Residence times and pulp consistencies were estimated by use of the extended entropy model. Clearly, an increase in specific energy does not necessarily implicate an increase in strength properties of the pulp produced. It is of high importance to have access to information about the refining zone conditions when searching for an optimal operation point in terms of the ratio between tensile index and specific energy. In these tests, this ratio had a maximum at about 55 % measured blow line consistency. Unfavourable operating conditions were identified at high pulp consistencies, especially after the FZ, where pulp consistencies well above 70 % were observed. The estimated residence time for each refining zone responded differently when applying changes in production rate, plate gaps and dilution water flow rates. In conclusion, the results associated with estimated pulp consistencies where easier to interpret compared with results for residence times, implying that additional tests are required for the latter variable. In addition to tensile index, pulp properties like freeness, Somerville shives and light scattering coefficient were included in the analysis.

Control strategies for refiners Part II: Consistency control in twin-disc refining zones using temperature profile information

Consistency profiles in the refining zones of twin-disc refiners have always been cumbersome to estimate with good accuracy. To overcome such challenges, this paper shows that it is vital to measure temperature profiles between the refining discs to estimate uneven chip/pulp feed distribution. It is also shown that the plate clearance, measured by plate gap measurement devices, is changed dramatically when changing the amount of dilution water to the refining zones asymmetrically. At the same time, the inlet temperature will change as well while the maximum temperature is rather stable. This makes the maximum temperature a good candidate for use when estimating the split of the pulp mass flow rates to the refining zones. This also opens for a new consistency control concept for each refining zone. The findings in this paper have been validated in a commercial TMP production line with two serially linked twin-disc refiners, and it is shown that the pulp and handsheet property variations, in terms of mean fiber length and tensile index, between the refining zones can be reduced considerably when running the refiners with similar consistency in each refining zone.

Fiber energy efficiency Part I: Extended entropy model

This is the first in a series of papers presenting the development of a comprehensive multiscale model with focus on fiber energy efficiency in thermo mechanical pulp processes. The fiber energy efficiency is related to the defibration and fibrillation work obtained when fibers and fiber bundles interact with the refining bars. The fiber energy efficiency differs from the total refining energy efficiency which includes the thermodynamical work as well. Extracting defibration and fibrillation work along the radius in the refining zone gives information valuable for fiber development studies.Models for this process must handle physical variables as well as machine specific parameters at different scales. To span the material and energy balances, spatial measurements from the refining zone must be available. In this paper, measurements of temperature profile and plate gaps from a full-scale CD-refiner are considered as model inputs together with a number of process variables. This enables the distributed consistency in the refining zone as well as the split of the total work between the flat zone and the CD-zone to be derived. As the temperature profile and the plate gap are available in the flat zone and the CD-zone at different process conditions it is also shown that the distributed pulp dynamic viscosity can be obtained. This is normally unknown in refining processes but certainly useful for all fluid dynamic models describing the bar-to-fiber interactions. Finally, it is shown that the inclusion of the machine parameters will be vital to get good estimates of the refining conditions and especially the split between the thermodynamical work and the defibration/fibrillation work.

Fiber energy efficiency Part II: Forces acting on the refiner bars

In this paper it is shown that the defibration and fibrillation work in thermo mechanical pulp refiners can differ significantly dependent on the process conditions. This has a direct impact on the distributed force in the refining zones obtained when the bars hit the fibers or fiber bundles. The distributed force, which is defined as a vector along the surface of the refining segments, is estimated using a model where the total work can be split into reversible and irreversible work. Besides traditional refiner variables such as motor load, dilution water added and inlet- and casing pressures, measurements of temperature profiles in the refining zone and plate gaps from a fullscale CD-refiner are available as inputs. Three data sets are analyzed and it is shown that the shape of the temperature profile and the force distribution vary significantly. This means that the fiber distribution in the refining zone varies as well which affects the final development of the pulp properties. The refining segment pattern and taper play an important role when estimating the force distribution and it is stated that the force distribution close to the contraction part of the flat zone as well as the outer part of the conical section are larger than in other positions. Therefore, specific energy which can be seen as the integral of the total energy distribution along the refining segments cannot be used when describing the variations in the distributed forces.

Analysis of Hydromechanics in a High-Consistency Conical Refiner

Analyzed the forces acting on the pulp in the refining zone of a high-consistency conical pulp refiner. A hydromechanics model for which presenting the flow of pulp along the plate has been derived through the calculation of the forces, which was composed two parts, since flat refining zone and conical refining zone formed the conical refiner.