Comparison of two bar edge lengths of refining plates on the properties of American old corrugated container pulp during low consistency refining

Abstract

Commercial American old corrugated container pulp (AOCC) boards were used as the starting material for repulping and low consistency (LC) refining to investigate the effects of LC refining plate geometry on the fibre and strength properties of the generated pulp. Specific refining energy that ranged from 0 to 120 kWh/air-dried ton (ADT) of pulp was explored for the two bar edge lengths (BEL) of refining plate patterns, wide 0.99 km/rev BEL and interim 2.01 km/rev BEL. The results showed that fibre length, curl index, kink index, and pulp freeness decreased while fines content increased with increasing refining energy input for both of the two refining plates during LC refining. LC refining with 2.01 BEL plate at low intensity of 0.24 J/m showed less fibre length reduction and more tensile strength development than that obtained with 0.99 BEL plate at high intensity of 0.48 J/m when compared at the same specific energy. Moreover, to achieve the desired tensile strength of the AOCC pulp, lower energy was needed for the interim 2.01 BEL plate than the wide 0.99 BEL plate. Thus, the interim 2.01 km/rev BEL refining plate provided potential for saving refining energy to reach a desired tensile strength of AOCC pulp.