THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA

Department of Mechanical Engineering

MECH 450 Mechanical Pulping and Papermaking - Midterm #2
March 31, 2011
There are FOUR questions on this midterm. This is a closed book exam and
calculators are permitted. Answer in the space below the question. INCLUDE
DETAILS OF YOUR WORK. All questions are of equal value.

1. In a sentence or two, describe the following terms

(a) table roll
(b) basis weight
(c) retention
(d) turbulence generator
(e) extended press nip

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MECH 450 Mechanical Pulping and Papermaking
Extra Page for Solution to Question 1

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2. Answer the following True or False
(a) Imbibed water is the water held within the swollen fibre wall. Water
removed between 70-98% consistency is generally imbibed water

(b) Three point fibre contact represents the upper limit of estimates in
which fibre networks form. It is generally accepted that this point
represents a crowding number of N ≈ 1.

(c) Papermaking operations generally occur initially with dilute suspen-

sions. The crowding numbers typically range between 16 to 45.

(d) In the inlet manifold of the headbox, the goal of the design is to
profile the shape such that a specified pressure drop per unit meter
of 1.3 kPa/m is achieved

(e) With roll formers, the applied pressure is typically equal to T /R,
where T is the tension per unit meter and R is the radius of the roll.
Typical pressures are of the order of 6 kPa

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3. As stock flows through a typical Fourdrinier paper machine, it passes
through many of the items given below. Starting from the machine chest,
list these in order that stock would see on the way to becoming paper.

(a) Machine chest

(b) reel
(c) foil section
(d) dryer section
(e) fan pump
(f) forming board
(g) press section
(h) headbox
(i) vacuum boxes
(j) slice
(k) couch
(l) breast roll
(m) inlet manifold

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4. For the paper machine shown below, estimate the mass flowrate of fibres
(i) leaving the couch roll and (ii) sent to the sewer. Assume that the
total retention for the paper machine R, the white water recirculation
γ = x3 /x5 , and inlet mass flowrate F are known.

Figure 1: A schematic of a simplified wet end of a papermachine

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MECH 450 Mechanical Pulping and Papermkaing
Extra Page for Solution to Question 4