Refining (i.e., mechanical beating of pulp) is a common procedure that is used in paper-making to improve the mechanical properties of the final product. The improvements caused by refining are mainly attributed to increased density and to a better bonding between fibers. In this work, we study how various mechanisms that can be triggered by refining affect the tensile behavior of the sheets. Consequently, we use direct numerical simulations of fiber networks. We relate our finding to the experimental measurements that we conducted on handsheets. We have found that fibrillar fines with size distributions below the resolution of modern state-of-the art pulp characterization tools have a substantial contribution to the increased strength and stiffness of the sheets.

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We studied the application of a stratified seasonal hot water storage tank with a heat pump connected to medium-, low-and very-low-temperature space heat emissions for a single-family house in Stockholm, Sweden. Our aim was to investigate the influence of heat emission design temperature on the efficiency and design parameters of seasonal storage in terms of collector area, the ratio of storage volume to collector area (RVA), and the ratio of height to diameter of storage tank. For this purpose, we developed a mathematical model in MATLAB to predict hourly heat demand in the building, heat loss from the storage tank, solar collector heat production, and heat support by heat pump as a backup system when needed. In total, 108 cases were simulated with RVAs that ranged ), and various heat emissions with design supply/return temperatures of 35/30 as very-low-, 45/35 as low-, and 55/45 (°C) as medium-temperature heat emission. In order to find the best combination based on heat emission, we considered the efficiency of the system in terms of the heat pump work considering coefficient of performance (COP) of the heat pump and solar fraction. Our results showed that, for all types of heat emission a storage-volume-to-collector area ratio of 5 m 3 m À2 , with a collector area of 50 m 2 , and a height-to-diameter ratio of 1.0 m m À1 were needed in order to provide the maximum efficiency. Results indicated that for very-low-temperature heat emission the heat pump work was less than half of that of the medium-temperature heat emission. This was due to 7% higher solar fraction and 14% higher COP of heat pump connected to very-low-temperature heat emission compared to medium-temperature heat emission.

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