Lecture – 37

BITS Pilani
Pilani Campus
Pulp & paper industry

• More than 100 years old paper industry in India

• India was the first country to use bamboo as a raw

material for paper making

• Other raw materials include:

• Bagasse
• Straw
• Jute

• Cellulose pulp from all raw materials are used

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Wood constituents
Cellulose
– ordered array of high MW glucose polymer chains
– most valuable fiber
Hemi cellulose
– disordered array of short MW polymers of sugar
– no economical use except a fuel
Lignin
– Binder for cellulose fibers
– condensed amorphous polyphenol polymers
Extractives
– Resins, gums, fats, waxes and coloring matter

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Typical wood & pulp composition

Constituents Soft Wood Hard Wood Soft Wood Hard Wood

% wt % wt Pulp Pulp
% wt % wt
Cellulose 52 54 85 84
Hemi 17 21 12 14
cellulose
Lignin 28 22 3 1
Extractives 3 3 - -

Lignin: a complex organic polymer deposited in the cell walls of many plants,
making them rigid and woody

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Case study: Pulp & paper industry
Pulp & paper technology
Kraft Process
– Material added to the cooking liquor is Na2SO4, hence
sulfate process
– However, Na2CO3, NaOH and Na2S are used
– Gives high yield of pulp

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

Kraft process

1. Debarking of Wood
• Removing the outer layer of the wood
• It can be removed by many ways
– Cut wood into small pieces and do rubbing action
– Water is passed at high forces over the wood and debark it
– Mechanical knife debarking
2. Chipping
• Cutting the debarked wood in small chips of ⅛” to
¼” thickness
• Smaller size of wood pieces enhance the
penetration of chemicals in it

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DebarkedKraft Process
wood chips Digester
• Highly alkaline chemical and wood
Pre steaming mixture is cooked with steam
Aqueous White
100kPa under pressure (digested) for
Solution
(Na2SO4, NaOH between 1 and 3 hours
and Na2S) • Hydrolysis and solubilization of
Steam lignin
(indirect) • As NaOH gets into chips, volatile
Digester components such as mercaptans
1½ hr time are hydrolysed in water to form
170 ºC & 7 - sodium hydrosulphide
10 • Most of the lignin and some of the
atm hemicellulose is dissolved, leaving
the remaining cellulose fibers
Condensate separated

Brown Stock
Kraft process

3. Chips into digester:

• Digester is a special piece of machinery used in the
process of papermaking
• Its purpose is to cook small wood chips for several hours
in order to soften them at high pressures
• Typically batch digesters are used
• Typically, delignification requires several hours at 170 to
176 °C & in presence of chemicals
• Under these conditions lignin & hemi cellulose, degrade to
give fragments that are soluble in the strongly basic liquid

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

DebarkedKraft Process
wood chips
• When hot slurry is passed to
Pre steaming
Aqueous White
blow down tank, heat is
100kPa recovered in form of steam
Solution
(Na2SO4, NaOH
and Na2S) • Chips are preheated with
Steam recovered steam
(indirect)
• Blow tank has high
Digester
concentration of pulp & low
1½ hr time
170 ºC concentration of water

Condensate
Steam

Blow
Brown Stock down Cellulose Pulp
tank

Weak Black Liquor

Kraft process

• Bleaching of pulp
✔ Removal of color residue or bleaching can be done by using oxidizing agents
such as chlorine
✔ Now slowly, hydrogen peroxide is also used

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Kraft process

• Combined liquids, known as black liquor (because of

its color), contain lignin fragments,  carbohydrates
 from the breakdown of hemicellulose, sodium
carbonate, sodium sulfate, and other inorganic salts

• It is very important to recycle the chemicals used

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 Recovery of Black Liquor
WBL contains 95 to 98 % of the total chemicals charged to the digester
It contains around 20% of solids
 Recovery of Black Liquor
WBL contains 95 to 98 % of the total chemicals charged to the digester
It contains around 20% of solids
1. Multi-effect evaporator and disc evaporator concentrate the black liquor from 15-18%
solid to 60-65% solid
2. Make up chemicals (Na2SO4 + S) are added to mix the product and produces molten
slag
Kraft process: Major engineering problems

• Choice of processes

• Huge consumption of fresh water

• Pollution & waste water problem

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Making of paper

• Properties required for any paper

– Strength
– Proper surface
– Opacity
– Feel
• Pulp Stock preparation
– Beating or Refining
– No sharp distinction between them
– To give strength, uniformity, density and opacity

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 Jordan machine
• Metal bars and stones are set inside.
• Here, pulp is deformed, defibered and dispersed

Web forming
• 99.5% water fiber slurry are made to run on an
endless belt at a speed of 50m/min to 500m/min
• Pulp fibers are arranged into web
• Water is drained out by gravity
• Shaking motion is provided for better interlocking
Beater section of fibers on mat
• It consists of metal blades attached with rotating • White water is collected and it is reused to
drum conserve water and additives and to avoid
• Finely ground fillers (to increase brightness, pollution
flexibility, softness and weight) and coloring agents
are also added
 Pressing
• Free water is removed by pressing with pressure
roll, water mark roll and suction roll.
• Water content is reduced to 60-65% water

Drying
• Additional water is removed by smoothing rolls and
series of steam- heated metal drying rolls
• Water is reduced from 60-65% to 5-6%

Finishing
• Here paper is passed through a series of
calendaring rolls for producing smooth paper.
• It is wounded on a large winding roll
Making of paper

• Preparation of fiber suspension (from pulp)

• Formation of paper (conversion of fiber suspension to

paper sheet)
– Random arrangement of fibers into a wet web
– Removal of free water from wet web by wet pressing & compaction of sheet
– Progressive removal of additional water by heated rolls

• Fourdrinier & cylinder Machine

– Both makes paper by draining water from dilute fiber mix using fine screen and
dry the mat with rolls and drying rolls and smoothing with calendars

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus