Fiber level design of tools for energy efficient mechanical pulping

Time period:

1 July 2015 – 31 December 2019

Funder:

Swedish Energy Agency

Type of award:

Project grant

Total funding:

6,000,000 SEK

Within the pulp and paper industry, the most energy consuming process step is the refining of fibres. The processes involved are very complex and neither the mechanisms at the micro level nor their implications on the energy consumption and the final fibre quality are well understood. Advanced surface engineering can make the refining stage more efficient, allowing energy savings and improved fibre quality.

The project addresses the subject by

• developing and testing with experimental tools with micro geometries at the fiber level

• detailed analysis of separated fibres

• theoretical calculations for process optimization.

The team has long experience from applied research in materials science, tribology and solid mechanics. The

research approach is new, the topics are both fundamental and energy related, the research is practical in its

nature and the results will be industrially applicable in due time.