Development of kinetics of the neutral sulfite semi-chemical (NSSC) pulping for the production of high-quality corrugating medium

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This collaborative research project will be undertaken by Dr. Yonghao Ni and his team at the University of New Brunswick, in partnership with Lake Utopia Paper. Neutral sulfite semi-chemical (NSSC) pulping is the key process for the production of corrugating medium, the raw material for the manufacture of packaging products such as carton boxes. Although, the market for printing/writing paper products has declined, the paper packaging products industry continues to grow. NSSC pulping of under-utilized wood species, such as birch, has not been researched. The overall strategy of this proposed research is to understand the fundamentals, including the kinetics, of NSSC pulping of birch wood so that better control of the production process can be attained; consequently, the NSSC birch pulp and its overall manufacturing process will improve.The Canadian pulp and paper industry faces strong international competition. The results from this research in relation to NSSC pulping of birch will benefit not only Lake Utopia Paper, the industrial partner but also other Canadian pulp and paper companies.Milestones and deliverables include: 1) Development of delignification kinetics models of NSSC pulping of birch, the focus species of the industrial partner; 2) Establishment of the relationships between the NSSC pulp properties and ?-factor (the combined effects of time and temperature in the process); 3) Improvement of the NSSC pulping process in terms of pulping efficiency, yield, and pulp properties by increasing the delignification rate, selectivity and uniformity based on the overall process optimization.