Fines are an essential component in the papermaking process because they have a profound influence on the behaviour of the wet web and on the mechanical properties of the final sheet. Primary fines are present in the pulp prior to refining, and secondary fines are produced during refining. In the present investigation, two commercially manufactured unbleached pulps with kappa numbers of 45 and 90 were studied in terms of how they responded to refining with respect to the quality of fibre and fines. Primary and secondary fines were collected and characterised and their impact on sheet strength was evaluated by addition of known amounts to a refined and decrilled pulp. All the measured paper strength properties improved when primary and secondary fines were added. The strength improvement was generally somewhat higher in the second case. The effect was more pronounced at a higher level of addition. We attribute the main strength improvements associated with fines to improved consolidation by the creation of capillary forces between the surfaces.

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Abstract:A pulp yield increase up to 2% can be achieved by impregnation with a liquor containing 2 M effective alkali (EA) concentration instead of 1 M. The yield increase is due to higher cellulose and glucomannan contents in the pulp, which can be rationalized by less yield loss by peeling, as impregnation is more effective at an elevated EA level. A rapid loading of chips with alkali can be realized due to a high diffusion rate. When the temperature becomes higher in the cooking stage, enough alkali is available for delignification reactions without the risk of alkali depletion in the chip core, so that the delignification is more homogeneous.

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