Development and optimisation of disk filter for high consistency paper stock dewatering and fiber recovery

在过去的十年里，加拿大的纸张和纸板生产发生了重要的变化。印刷和书写等级的需求急剧下降导致几家工厂关闭，但该行业的组织和包装部门却看到需求强劲而持续的增长。该行业还必须面对在提高产品质量的同时减少能源和水消耗的挑战。因此，工业对高效设备有强烈的需求，既要先准备纸浆，又要生产所需的纸和纸板等级。卡丹特是一家领先的原料制备和方法流程系统供应商，旨在生产高品质的白纸和牛皮纸，并在使用再生纤维纸浆方面拥有丰富的专业知识。公司开始开发一种可以处理高固比（高稠度）纤维浆的圆盘过滤器。Innofibre在这一发展中发挥着主导作用。专门为开发工作设计的圆盘过滤器的中试规模单元位于Innofibre， Kadant和Innofibre的共同努力已经取得了重大进展。本研究计划的目标是在纸浆和造纸工业的现代背景下追求圆盘过滤机的发展。本项目将首先侧重于白水纤维的回收，然后进一步发展盘式过滤机，以实现相对高稠度纸浆（固体含量大于1%）的增稠。这些目标与最近加拿大纸浆和造纸工业向生产纸板和增加工厂生产能力的转变是一致的，这两种现象都需要更好的脱水能力和水循环利用。

The last 10 years have seen an important shift in the production of papers and boards in Canada. The sharpdemand decline for printing and writing grades lead to several mill closures but the tissue and packagingsectors of the industry rather see a strong and persistent increase in demand. The industry must also face thechallenge of reducing energy and water consumption while increasing the quality of its products. There is thusa strong industrial need for efficient equipment, both to first prepare the pulp and then produce the requiredpaper and board grades.Kadant is a leading supplier of stock preparation and approach flow systems designed to produce high-qualitywhite and brown paper grades, with extended expertise in the use of recycled fiber pulps. The company startedthe development of a disk filter that can process a fiber slurry with a high solid proportion (high consistency).Innofibre plays a leading role in this development. A pilot scale unit of the disk filter, specially designed fordevelopment work, is located at Innofibre and joint efforts by Kadant and Innofibre already led to significantadvances.The goal of the present research proposal is to pursue the development of the disk filter in the modern contextof the pulp and paper industry. This project will first focus on white water fiber recovery and then further thedevelopment of the disk filter to the thickening of relatively high consistency pulp (larger than 1 % in solidcontent). These objectives are in line with recent shifts in the Canadian pulp and paper industry towards theproduction of linerboard and the increased mill production capacity, both phenomena requiring betterdewatering capacity and water recycling.