Market Pulps
- The emergence of the Fourdrinier paper machine in 1799 spurred research and development into alternatives to linter fibers, the main raw material used until then in the manual production of paper and insufficient to feed these revolutionary giants.
- During the first half of the 20th century the pulp fibers were mainly sourced from softwoods (conifers) like pine and spruce.
- During the second half of the 20th century pulp fibers sourced from hardwoods (deciduous) like eucalyptus and birch appeared and transformed worldwide the pulp and paper industries.
- The main pulp production sites shifted from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere, into huge plants capable of producing up to 2MTPY of market pulps in a single line.
- Market pulps are shipped worldwide in bales of dry pulp sheets and among its several technical specifications is the level of contaminants.
Product for this application : Simpascan
- Simpascan is the perfect tool for automatic, quick, accurate and objective assessment of dirt in market pulp, commonly measured by visual inspection of pulp sheets done by skilled laboratory technicians :
- using digital image analysis Simpascan quickly provides reliable test results – accurate, repetitive and reproducible, replacing efficiently visual evaluation of dirt in pulp, which regardless technical standards created for this matter, like ISO 5350, TAPPI T213 and T437, relied on skilled staff, provided limited data and suffered from repeatability and reproducibility due to its inherent subjectivity.
Key Features & Highlights
- Dual scan capability – Simpascan surveys pulp sheets under transmitted light and reflected light, assessing dirt both inside the thick pulp sheet as well on its surfaces
- Automatic operation – Simpascan scans automatically the large pulp sheets
- Data export – PDF & Excel® reports, OPC/DCS connectivity in option
In Summary
The huge production volumes of market pulps requires the use of modern technologies for Quality Control of cellulosic materials, which must provide quickly and accurately a common analytical language between Process, Quality Control and R&D teams — enabling dynamic integration in the development, understanding and optimization of fibrous materials.