ACOUSTOPHORESIS FOR PULP SEPARATION

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In pulp and paper mills, efficient techniques are required to remove accumulating solid suspensions in order to optimize raw material usage and closing up water systems due to environmental regulations. As a novel approach to solid removal, an ultrasonic method to clarify a white-water stream appears promising. For white-water stream clarification, the idea is to apply a normal force on flowing fibers using radiation force coming from an ultrasonic wave field (acoustophoresis), for the purpose of migrating the fibers and thus increasing the consistency of the pulp stream. ****This projects aims at determining the optimal configuration for feasible pulp manipulation in industrial environment. Both numerical and experimental methodologies will be developed in order to derive the optimal transducer configuration. Then, novel conceptual design will be proposed based on recommendation from the industrial partner and the preliminary results obtained in the first phase of the project. ****If the concept of ultrasonic pulp separation can be extended to industrial scale, this approach would be a major breakthrough for the Canadian pulp and paper industry and especially GL&V by enabling a minimization of installation footprint, reduction of operating cost and energy consumption, while reducing water consumption and more generally environmental impact per unit of pulp or paper production.******