Mechanical Pulping

Dharm Dutt
Professor
Department of Paper Technology
IIT Roorkee
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fig. 1. Fibre unit structure: (a) schematic of cell wall layers

(middle lamella (ML), primary wall (P), secondry wal (S1, S2,
S3) and lumen (W); (b) fibrillar structure of cellwall; (c)
scanning microscopic image of cell wall layers; and (d)
scanning microscopic image of microfibrils (Chinga-Carrasco,
2011; Fardim, Liebert & Heinze, 2013; Fellers& Norman, 1998;
Page, 1989a,b; Sixta, 2008).
Mechanical or high yield pulping is the process in which
wood is separated or defibrated mechanically into pulp for the
paper industry.

Properties of Mechanical Pulp

Strength
Relatively cheap
High yield (85-95%) compared to chemical pulping (40-
50%)
Low capital costs relative to Kraft mill
High opacity product
Large amount of fines in product scatter light
Allows printing on both sides of thin sheet
Good printing surface
Broad fiber size distribution gives smooth surface
Good bulk
High ink absorbency
compressibility

Weaknesses
Relatively weak product
Not strong enough to get through printing press
Need to add chemical fibers to product
Can use recycle fibers
Limited brightness
Bleached with lignin retaining bleaching agents
Photoyellowing
Formation of chromophores from lignin compounds through
the reaction with light and oxygen
Low strength,
low permanence
 Types of mechanical pulping:

Family tree of mechanical pulps

Raw materials preparation:

Chipping and chip storage

After barking chips are made

• Important for pulp quality
• Chips should be homogenous
• Screened chips are then wetted and heated rapidly in the
preheating stage

Short storing time

• Chips dry fast (high temperature in storage)
• Accelerates discoloration and decay of the wood

Chip washing
• Sand, pieces of metal, etc. carried along with the wood can
accelerate the wear on the refiner discs.
• The chips are washed with hot water.
Steam treatment of chips

Chips are moistened and heated (+ chemical treated in

CTMP) in preheater, which causes the lignin bond
between the fibers to soften.
In CTMP chips are given a 20-30 minute steaming,
followed by impregnation with sodium sulphite (Na 2SO3).
The quantity of sodium sulfite, reaction time and
temperature can be used to adjust pulp properties. A
typical sulfite dosage is 2-3% of the wood.

Stone groundwood pulping process

Stone groundwood pulping is the oldest mechanical
pulping process.
It is the least energy intensive using approximately
1650 kWh/t pulp.
Logs are pressed into a rotating stone.
The fibers are washed off the stone with water (cools the
stone). Running this system under a slight pressure
improves the process.
This process takes small logs and grinds them against
artificial bonded stones.
These are made of silicon carbide or aluminum oxide
grits.
These stones can be submerged (pit grinding) or sprayed
with water to keep them cool while maintaining grinding
performance and fiber quality.
The advantage of this method is its very high yield.
The disadvantages are that the fibers produced are very
 short and often must be combined with strong but
expensive chemical fibers.

Control pressure is
applied to the
wood magazines
causing the lof
surfaces to be
pushed against the
revolving stone
surfaces.
Finger burs adjust
the size of wood
fragments
Showers are
provided to wash
fibers off the stone
into the pit and
also keep the stone
clean and cool.

Arrangement of grinder showing the essential components

Control pressure is applied to the wood magazines
causing the lof surfaces to be pushed against the
revolving stone surfaces.
Finger burs adjust the size of wood fragments
Showers are provided to wash fibers off the stone into
the pit and also keep the stone clean and cool.
Pulp stone
The surface of the stones are cut with patterns (burrs)
using a metal burr.
Patterns are 1.6 mm deep.
The stones must be sharpened every 50-150 hours.
 Pulp stone pattern

Pulpstone sharpening:
Sharpening= fracturing the softer bond posts.
This causes the worn grains to be removed, uncovering new
sharp abrasive grains.
Why sharpen?
To expose fresh abrasive grit.
To control the compression / decompression frequency on
the wood fibres.
To control fibre length.
To carry water into the grinding zone and pulp out of the
grinding zone.
To clean stone pores.
Mechanism
The burrs on the stone alternately compress and decompress the
fibers. This loosens the fibers. Additionally, the heat developed
softens the lignin in the middle lamella which helps the process.

The application of heat or chemical will also soften the lignin and
improve this process.

In the grinding process the lands and grooves of the stone, as

well as the individual grits, pass rapidly over the wood surface.
Each time a land passes over the wood fibre it compresses the
surface of the wood and each time a groove passes over the
wood fibre it relaxes the surface of the wood thereby causing
localized heating of the wood. This heat softens the lignin,
which binds the wood fibres together. When the lignin has
been adequately softened, the fibres will separate from the
surface of the wood. A pattern having a narrow land area will
provide increased unit or specific grinding pressure. This
higher pressure increases the deforming pressure on the wood
surface causing increased localized heating of the wood.
Increased softening of lignin will cause longer length fibres
and fibre bundles to be separated from the wood. This results
in a pulp of higher freenes
Flow chart of stone groundwood pulping process

Variables affecting grinding

Spruce has low wood

density due to high
springwood content.
The southern pine has
high density due to
greater summer wood
content.
Due to heart wood is dark
and has high resin
content.
30% moisture is
minimum and 45 and
50% moisture contents
are preferred
Types of grinders:

Three pockets grinder Magazine grinder

Chain grinder Ring grinder

Pressurized grinding:

Pressurized groundwood (PGW) is carried out over a

pressure of psig.
Pulpstone shower temperature is more than 95 0C.
At elevated temperature, lignin softens and fibers are
separated readily from the wood.
The long fiber content of PGW is much higher than the
SGW.
The fibers are fibrillated, flexible and developed superior
fiber-to-fiber bonding.
Strength is about 60% higher and tensile index is 20-
30% higher than the SGW
The recycle thickner back to the shower is known as hot
loop and temp is about 100 0C.
The main drawback is the slight loss in brightness due to
thermal darkening it may be overcome by adding alkaline
peroxide.
Refiner Mechanical Pulping

The chips are defiberized and refined to finished pulp in a

refiner. This takes usually place in two stages.
• The wood chips are fed between the refiner discs of refiner.
At least one of the discs rotates at a speed of 1500 to 2300 rpm.
The wood fibers are separated as a result of the action of
mechanical forces.
• A majority of the electricity used by the refiners is converted
to steam by the shear forces the pulp is exposed to.
• Steam is sent to heat recovery to generate fresh steam and
used. e.g. in pulp drying or in a paper machine

(a) Refining mechanism (Nugroho, 2012). (b) Forces acting

during refining (Cuberos-Martinez & Park, 2012).
Bars:

Fibre capture and transport

Cyclic compression and shear
Permanently deforms fibre wall

Grooves provide capacity

Angles provide uniform bar
contact area

Refiner:

Conical refiners and disc refiners

Equipment Characteristics:

Bar size and shape:

Two different fillings were installed in a 20’’ (500mm) diameter
disk refiner and a beating curve obtained with each filling. The
disks “A” were made with bars and each being in wide (6 mm),
while the disks “B” were made with bars one half that width,
i.e. 3.32 in (3 mm).

Disk refiner fillings

For the comparison of the two fillings bleached hardwood

kraft was refined as a Canadian Standard Freeness of 400
ml. The “B” filling with the narrower bars and higher value
of IC/min and therefore lower intensity produced a pulp
having a higher burst, tear and tensile strength, and a
larger percentage of long fiber than the pulp produced at a
higher intensity.
 Effect of plate design

Area of bars and grooves,

Depth of grooves
Presence or absence of dams,
Materials of construction,
Wear pattern,
Bar angles,

Speed of rotation: All the physical bonding strengths

increased with the increased speed, as well as the fiber
length. Again, as seen above, increased IC/min. or
reduced refining intensity produced a pulp having higher
strength and longer fiber length than operation at higher
intensity.

Effect of refiner speed

Inter-section angle,
 Gap clearance,
Retention time,
Rotational direction.

Conical vs disk refiner

Cutting edge length calculation

LC refining paper properties

Fibre flexibility and higher bonded area
increases sheet strength
More flexible fibres increase
sheet smoothness
LC refining – fibre morphology

Imposes cyclic compression on fibres

Internal delamination – break down of
cell wall – increases flexibility
External fibrillation – increases relative
bonded area
Reduces wall thickness - increases fibre
flexibility, fines production
Fibre cutting
Dislocations
Fibre curl
Fibre wall delamination
Presence of tension during
refining

Definition of contour length

and projected length

The Luce’s shape factor is based on circular shape of cell wall and cell
cavity; therefore, it estimate fiber collapse. Moreover, the collapsing of
fibers will depend upon its location in a paper sheet. Luce’s shape factor
is related to density of paper sheet and is correlated to breaking length of
paper
Curl index zero means no curl is present
Wall thickness during LC refining

Plale gap

Specific edge load (SEL)

Ptot is the total power consumed, Pnet is the net powe (kW)
consumed during refining, Pno load is the power needed to rotate
the rotor in the refiner.
SEL for softwood = 1-5-3.0 J/m
SEL for hardwood= 0.2-1.0 J/m

CEL= BEL x ω
CEL= Cutting edge length
BEL= Bar edge length
ω = Rotational speed
Specific surface load (SSL) J/m2

IL= Impact length of the bar

Impact length of the bars can be calculated from the width of

rotor (Wr) and stator bars (Ws) and from the average
intersecting angle of (α) of rotor and stator bars.

Determination of freeness

Schematic diagram of measuring the freeness value and the

mechanism affecting the freeness
Variables affecting refiner mechanical pulping

Comparison of SGW,RMP and TMP

Flow chart of RMP

Mechanical pulping process conditions:

 CMP (CTMP) process chemicals

Hot Sulphite (NaOH + Na2SO3)

NaOH swells wood for easier refining.
Sulphite prevents the wood from darkening upon this
treatment.
•
Cold Soda (NaOH)
NaOH swells the wood.
Some hemicelluloses and all resins lost.
Softwoods resist this treatment so used only for hardwoods; a
very minor process.

Alkaline Peroxide (NaOH + H2O2)

Pulping and bleaching together.
Difficult with Softwoods.
Need to stabilize peroxides against:
Thermal degradation and degradation by metals
Silicates used to stabilize peroxides can deposit on refining
equipment.

CTMP (2-5% Na2SO3)

Most common of the chemical processes.
The lignin is sulphonated to only a very slight extent. This
softens the lignin making fiber removal easier.