Multiscale modeling and multiobjective control of wood fiber morphology in batch pulp digester

Abstract

AbstractEven though it is widely known that mechanical properties of papers are dependent upon fiber morphology such as fiber length and cell wall thickness, existing macroscopic models are limited in describing the microscopic traits of pulp. Thus, we proposed a multiscale model by integrating a macroscopic model (i.e., Purdue model) and a microscopic model (i.e., kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm) to capture the dynamic evolution of the fiber morphology as well as conventional pulp quality index such as Kappa number. Then, a reduced‐order model is identified to handle the computational requirement of the multiscale model, and implemented to a model‐based controller to regulate both the fiber length and the Kappa number which are expressed in the forms of conflicting objective functions. The epsilon‐constraint method is employed to find the Pareto optimal sets to provide decision makers with the degree of freedom to choose one according to their preferred end‐use paper properties.