Classifications

• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D21—PAPER-MAKING; PRODUCTION OF CELLULOSE
  • D21C—PRODUCTION OF CELLULOSE BY REMOVING NON-CELLULOSE SUBSTANCES FROM CELLULOSE-CONTAINING MATERIALS; REGENERATION OF PULPING LIQUORS; APPARATUS THEREFOR
  • D21C3/00—Pulping cellulose-containing materials
  • D21C3/22—Other features of pulping processes
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D21—PAPER-MAKING; PRODUCTION OF CELLULOSE
  • D21C—PRODUCTION OF CELLULOSE BY REMOVING NON-CELLULOSE SUBSTANCES FROM CELLULOSE-CONTAINING MATERIALS; REGENERATION OF PULPING LIQUORS; APPARATUS THEREFOR
  • D21C3/00—Pulping cellulose-containing materials
  • D21C3/22—Other features of pulping processes
  • D21C3/26—Multistage processes
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D21—PAPER-MAKING; PRODUCTION OF CELLULOSE
  • D21C—PRODUCTION OF CELLULOSE BY REMOVING NON-CELLULOSE SUBSTANCES FROM CELLULOSE-CONTAINING MATERIALS; REGENERATION OF PULPING LIQUORS; APPARATUS THEREFOR
  • D21C9/00—After-treatment of cellulose pulp, e.g. of wood pulp, or cotton linters ; Treatment of dilute or dewatered pulp or process improvement taking place after obtaining the raw cellulosic material and not provided for elsewhere
  • D21C9/10—Bleaching ; Apparatus therefor
  • D21C9/1026—Other features in bleaching processes
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D21—PAPER-MAKING; PRODUCTION OF CELLULOSE
  • D21C—PRODUCTION OF CELLULOSE BY REMOVING NON-CELLULOSE SUBSTANCES FROM CELLULOSE-CONTAINING MATERIALS; REGENERATION OF PULPING LIQUORS; APPARATUS THEREFOR
  • D21C9/00—After-treatment of cellulose pulp, e.g. of wood pulp, or cotton linters ; Treatment of dilute or dewatered pulp or process improvement taking place after obtaining the raw cellulosic material and not provided for elsewhere
  • D21C9/10—Bleaching ; Apparatus therefor
  • D21C9/1026—Other features in bleaching processes
  • D21C9/1031—Pulse, dynamic, displacement processes

Definitions

• the present invention relates generally to the field of chemical cooking processes, and more specifically to a pulp cooking process in which fibrous material is cooked at elevated temperatures and pressures in the presence of chemicals and subsequently further treated in the digester to separate fibers from the bonding agents in the material and to whiten the pulp.
• Bleach plants and the associated washing stages require vast expanses of real estate for equipment, and significant capital investment.
• enhanced environmental awareness has subjected the pulp and paper industry to close scrutinization in that the various pulping, washing, and bleaching stages can result in the discharge of spent aqueous solutions potentially harmful to the environment.
• Typical bleaching processes included the use of chlorine, and bleaching effluents can contain residual chlorine, which is perceived as undesirable in the environment.
• Chlorine recovery processes are difficult in that the corrosive nature of the effluents is harmful to common metals, and requires expensive equipment for chemical recovery. Additionally, such recovery processes are extremely complex and expensive, while yielding no financial return on the capital outlay required for their construction.
• Pending U.S. application 07/068,721 teaches a process in which the equivalent of one or several independent stages of washing can be achieved by the utilization of displacement washing techniques in the digester.
• Another object of the present invention is to provide a cellulose pulping process operable in a batch process which can complete various washing and bleaching stages without having to transport the pulp from a batch digester to subsequent process apparatus.
• a further object of the present invention is to provide a pulping process wherein real estate requirements for equipment are minimized, making pulping plants of smaller expanse while producing acceptable quality pulp.
• a still further object of the present invention is to provide a pulp bleaching process which does not require the use of chlorine and is environmentally preferred to previously known processes utilizing chlorine.
• Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a pulping process which reduces total process time from beginning to end as compared with conventional equivalent processes.
• FIGS 1 through 10 illustrate a preferred process sequence for carrying out the expanded treatment of pulp in a digester according to the present invention.
• Figure 1 illustrates the chip filling step
• Figure 2 illustrates a cool liquor fill
• FIG. 3 illustrates a warm liquor fill
• Figure 4 illustrates a hot liquor fill
• Figure 5 illustrates the time-to-temperature and time-at-temperature steps in the digesting process
• Figure 6 illustrates the end of cook displacement step
• Figure 7 illustrates a post cook oxidized green liquor treatment
• Figure 8 illustrates a peroxide treatment step
• Figure 9 illustrates a peroxyacetic acid treatment
• FIG. 10 illustrates the pulp discharge step.
• the present invention entails the continuation of process steps in the digester, wherein additional displacements are made utilizing various additional chemicals and/or spent liquors to further dissolve lignin and brighten the pulp.
• the chemicals selected for the further delignification and brightening preferably include reagents of non-chlorine types, including but not limited to hydrogen peroxide, oxygen, sodium polysulfide, sodium sulfite, sodium borohydride, sodium hydrosulfite, ozone, and peroxyacetic acid. Other reagents may be useful for the same purpose, so long as the general selection criteria are met.
• the group of appropriate bleaching agents includes bleaching agents that will dissolve lignin and brighten pulp, that are compatible with process metallurgy, that are compatible with practical chemical recovery and material balance, and preferably the by-products of which are relatively innocuous to the environment if accidentally lost or spilled.
• the process can be carried out in a variety of manners wherein additional in-digester displacements are utilized to affect both pulping and bleaching operations, with necessary washing, so as to reduce downstream processing required for similar delignification results, as compared with common and conventional processes.
• additional in-digester displacements are utilized to affect both pulping and bleaching operations, with necessary washing, so as to reduce downstream processing required for similar delignification results, as compared with common and conventional processes.
• the following examples of the present invention represent trials done in a pilot plant operation.
• Southern yellow pine was cooked in a conventional kraft displacement heating process according to Rapid Displacement Heating (RDH) techniques as marketed by Beloit Corporation. This process is essentially that as disclosed in U.S. patent 4,578,149.
• the RDH cook continued to a target Kappa level of 16, after which a conventional RDH displacement occurred.
• a solution of hydrogen peroxide was displaced through the chip column at 80° C for a period of 30 minutes.
• a noticeably whiter pulp was obtained, measuring 31.9% I.S.O. versus 30.3% I.S.O. in the conventional RDH pulp at 16 Kappa.
• a cook similar to that of Example 2 was performed, after which 2% hydrogen peroxide was used in 2 separate post cooking treatments.
• a Kappa of approximately 10 was achieved with a brightness of 40.7% I.S.O. after the treatments.
• an aqueous solution of peroxyacetic acid was displaced through the chip column in a pH4 buffer solution of acetic acid sodium acetate.
• the pulp discharged from this treatment had a Kappa of approximately 6 and a brightness of 50.8% I.S.O.
• An effective process for performing such washing or preparation is to precede a treatment displacement with spent chemical of that treatment from a previous treatment, perhaps in a different digester.
• the in-digester bleaching following RDH cooking processes results in shorter process times for a single chip charge. Whereas a conventional process from chip charge at the digester prior to cooking to the time bleached pulp goes to high density storage requires approximately 15 hours, using the present in-digester bleaching process reduces the total elapsed time to approximately 9 hours. While more process time is required in the digester for a single charge, additional digester capacity can be provided in a pulp mill at lower installed cost than is necessary for typical bleaching and washing sequences. Time is saved due to the inherent efficiencies in the displacement processes, as compared to the conventional washing and bleaching process which require thickening, mixing, dilution, and reacting in multiple repetitive steps.
• FIG 1 a suitable process equipment layout 10 is illustrated for carrying-out the present invention.
• a plurality of digesters 12 are provided for cooking wood chips according to displacement heating techniques and for carrying out the subsequent reaction steps with the pulped chips according to the present invention.
• the process layouts in Figures 1 through 10 illustrate numerous essential vessels, tanks, and the like, some of which operate at super atmospheric pressure and others of which operate at atmospheric pressure. Those vessels operating under pressure are illustrated by circular tanks, and square vessels are representative of atmospheric vessels. Various alternative processes are illustrated by optional tanks and vessels shown in dotted lines and to be described more specifically with respect to later drawings.
• the chip filling step of the pulping process is illust.
• chips from a chip storage location 14 are transferred to any one of the digesters 12 for beginning the pulping process.
• the chips may have been pretreated by known processes such as steaming or the like, depending on the chips being used and the desired pulping results. Normally, steam packers or the like, also not part of the present invention, will be used to fill the digester.
• FIG. 2 illustrates the second step of the conventional Beloit Corporation RDH process which is referred to as the cool liquor fill.
• Cool black liquor from the cool black liquor accumulator 16 is pumped into the digester at the bottom thereof, in such a manner as to overfill the digester with the cool black liquor flowing from the digester at the top thereof, and back to the cool black liquor accumulator 16.
• This cool liquor fill expels air from the digester and immerses the chips in liquor.
• the direct contact of the chips with the liquor preheats the chips, and the residual chemicals remaining in the cool black liquor begin initial reactions for the delignification of the chips.
• the cool black liquor or a portion of it can be fortified with the addition of cool spent green polysulfide liquor from a green polysulfide liquor storage vessel 18. Additionally, oxidized green liquor from an oxidized green liquor storage tank 20 can be added.
• Figure 3 illustrates the conventional warm liquor fill associated with the RDH process, wherein warm black liquor from an accumulator 22 is pumped to the digester containing chips and cool liquor, with the cool black liquor being thus displaced by subsequent quantities of warm black liquor and being transferred back to the cool black liquor accumulator 16.
• the warm black liquor provided to the digester can be fortified with the addition of anthraquinone from an optional storage tank 24.
• the warm black liquor can be passed through a heat exchanger 26 in heat exchange relationship with cold water supplied at 28 for generating hot water removed at 30 and additional volumes of cool black liquor being passed to the cool black liquor accumulator 16.
• FIG 4 illustrates the hot liquor fill of the RDH process, in which hot white liquor from a hot white liquor storage vessel 32 is pumped into the digester, perhaps with the addition of hot black liquor from a hot black liquor accumulator 32.
• the hot white liquor is heated by passing cool white liquor from a cool white liquor tank 36 through a heat exchanger 38 in heat exchange relationship with hot black liquor from the hot black liquor accumulator 34.
• the hot black liquor leaving the heat exchanger 36 is passed to the warm black liquor accumulator 16.
• warm black liquor in the digester is displaced and is passed to the warm black liquor accumulator 22.
• some hot liquor may pass from the digester, which is then transferred to the hot black liquor accumulator 34.
• FIG. 5 illustrates the cooking sequence wherein liquor in the digester is circulated through the digester by means of a pump 40.
• liquor is withdrawn from the digester at a point intermediate the top and bottom ends by the pump 40, and is supplied to inlets at the top and bottom of the digester simultaneously.
• An external source of heat such as steam (not shown) may be used to raise the liquor to the desired temperature level.
• the temperature is held for a specified period of time until the desired level of delignification has been reached.
• Figure 6 illustrates the end of the cooking stage wherein cool spent green polysulfide liquor from the storage vessel 18 is pumped into the bottom of the digester to displace therefrom the cooking liquor present at the end of the cook.
• the liquors displaced from the digester are passed to the hot black liquor accumulator, the warm black accumulator, or back to the cool spent polysulfide storage vessel, as appropriate.
• Figure 7 illustrates a post-cook green polysulfide liquor treatment in the digester.
• Green polysulfide liquor from the storage unit 18 is pumped into the bottom of the digester after having had added thereto oxidized green liquor from the oxidized green liquor storage tank 20. Displaced liquors are passed to the cool black liquor storage accumulator.
• Figure 8 illustrates a post cook peroxide treatment wherein cool spent hydrogen peroxide liquor from a cool spent hydrogen peroxide storage vessel 42 is mixed with fresh hydrogen peroxide from a storage tank 44, the mixture then being pumped into the bottom of the digester to displace therefrom spent polysulfide liquor which is passed to the polysulfide liquor storage vessel 18.
• Figure 9 illustrates an alternative peroxyacetic acid treatment wherein peroxyacetic acid from a storage tank 46 is combined with displacement liquor from a storage tank 48 and is pumped into the bottom of the digester, to displace hydrogen peroxide to the hydrogen peroxide storage vessel 42.
• Figure 10 illustrates a suitable pulp discharge cycle wherein, upon completion of treatment, pulp from the digester is removed to a dump tank 50 and then to washing stages 52 which may include the addition of hot water at 54.
• Evacuation of the digester to the dump tank can be by any of several means, including the application of fluid pressure at the top of the digester, either liquid or gaseous, with the pulp and remaining liquid in the digester being passed from the bottom of the digester to the dump tank 50.
• the digester also can be evacuated by pumping the contents from the digester, either in a continuous pumping manner, as known previously, or through intermittent cyclic pumping as taught in U.S. serial no. 07/412,079. Washing can be performed in any of the known conventional belt or drum vacuum and pressure washers, or a final wash may be performed consistent with the teaching of the aforementioned U.S. patent application 07/068,721. Liquor from the washing stages is passed to a brown stock washer filtrate tank 56 and to the displacement liquor storage tank 48 for subsequent use.
• the various digesters in the plurality of digesters 12 will be operating at different process stages at different times.
• the various accumulators and storage vessels and tanks will receive from and/or supply liquor and chemicals to each of the various digesters, as required. This provides the capability to enhance and make more efficient the various treatments with selected reagents by preparing the chip column for treatment prior to the addition of the reagents. For example, if a peroxide treatment in one digester is required, the actual peroxide treatment displacement can be preceded by a displacement using spent peroxide liquor obtained from the peroxide treatment in a different digester.

Landscapes

• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
• Paper (AREA)
• Polysaccharides And Polysaccharide Derivatives (AREA)
• Prostheses (AREA)
• Radiation-Therapy Devices (AREA)
• Diaphragms For Electromechanical Transducers (AREA)
• Drying Of Semiconductors (AREA)
• Materials For Photolithography (AREA)
• Investigating Or Analysing Biological Materials (AREA)
• Solid-Sorbent Or Filter-Aiding Compositions (AREA)

Priority Applications (6)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (14)

Cited By (3)

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Citations (3)

• 1991
  • 1991-10-07 WO PCT/US1991/007402 patent/WO1992007994A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1991-10-07 RU RU9193005264A patent/RU2068904C1/ru active
  • 1991-10-07 AU AU90222/91A patent/AU9022291A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1991-10-07 EP EP92900022A patent/EP0554391B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1991-10-07 CA CA002094819A patent/CA2094819C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1991-10-07 AT AT92900022T patent/ATE151824T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1991-10-07 PL PL91298537A patent/PL168216B1/pl unknown
  • 1991-10-07 ES ES92900022T patent/ES2101830T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1991-10-07 DE DE69125722T patent/DE69125722T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1991-10-22 MX MX9101706A patent/MX9101706A/es not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1991-10-23 ZA ZA918441A patent/ZA918441B/xx unknown
  • 1991-10-24 CN CN91109845A patent/CN1028250C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 1993
  • 1993-04-22 NO NO931486A patent/NO302187B1/no unknown
  • 1993-04-23 FI FI931854A patent/FI931854A/fi unknown

Patent Citations (3)

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