Stock (pulp) preparation line

Stock (pulp) preparation line



Stock preparation is the area where pulp is usually refined, blended to the appropriate proportion of hardwood, softwood or recycled fibre, and diluted to as uniform and constant as possible consistency. The pH is controlled and various fillers, such as whitening agents, size and wet strength or dry strength are added if necessary. Additional fillers such as clay, calcium carbonate and titanium dioxide increase opacity so printing on reverse side of a sheet will not distract from content on the obverse side of the sheet. Fillers also improve printing quality.

Pulp is pumped through a sequence of tanks that are commonly called chests, which may be either round or more commonly rectangular. Historically these were made of special ceramic tile faced reinforced concrete, but mild and stainless steels are also used. Low consistency pulp slurries are kept agitated in these chests by propeller like agitators near the pump suction at the chest bottom.

In the following process, different types of pulp, if used, are normally treated in separate but similar process lines until combined at a blend chest:

From high density storage or from slusher/pulper the pulp is pumped to a low density storage chest (tank). From there it is typically diluted to about 4% consistency before being pumped to an unrefined stock chest. From the unrefined stock chest stock is again pumped, with consistency control, through a refiner. Refining is an operation whereby the pulp slurry passes between a pair of discs, one of which is stationary and the other rotating at speeds of typically 1,000 or 1,200 RPM for 50 and 60 Hz AC, respectively. The discs have raised bars on their faces and pass each other with narrow clearance. This action unravels the outer layer of the fibres, causing the fibrils of the fibres to partially detach and bloom outward, increasing the surface area to promoting bonding. Refining thus increases tensile strength. For example, tissue paper is relatively...

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