Abstract:
A hydrocolloid polymer exhibiting improved sorption of deionized water and aqueous one weight percent sodium chloride solutions is described as are sorption products using the same. The hyrocolloid polymer consists essentially of (a) about 60 to about 90 mole percent polymerized alpha, beta-monoethylenically unsaturated monocarboxy monomer containing a three carbon atom chain, (b) about 10 to about 40 mole percent polymerized 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid, (c) zero to about 20 mole percent polymerized co-polymerizable water-soluble monoethylenically unsaturated monomer, and (d) zero to about 3 mole percent of a copolymerizable water-soluble polyethylenically unsaturated cross-linking agent. One gram of the hydrocolloid polymer, when dry and in free acid form, sorbs about 15 to about 100 percent more of a one weight percent sodium chloride aqueous solution than does a similarly prepared polymer containing identical amounts of all of the ethylenically unsaturated components except for the above sulfonic acid monomer, and includes acrylic acid in place of that sulfonic acid monomer.
Abstract:
Discontinuous natural fibers have a coating of a thermoplastic binder. A substantial majority of the fibers and any fiber bundles are unbonded to one another by the thermoplastic binder material. One or more solid particulate materials may be adhered to the fibers by the binder material. The binder material is heat fusible and the coated fibers can be mixed with other fibers for subsequent heat bonding and used in producing a wide variety of products.
Abstract:
The invention is a method of perfusing a material, such as wood, with a chemical composition that is insoluble in a given first fluid under supercritical conditions. A cosolvent is mixed with the first solvent to provide adequate solubility at supercritical conditions for the chemical composition. The method is useful for uniformly impregnating otherwise difficulty permeable materials. Impregnation of lumber or structural timbers with a preservative would be a typical use of the method.
Abstract:
A whole treated wood fiber material is useful, for example, in the drilling industry and as a scavanger for oil. Fiberized alder is a preferred species and it is treated with a chemical such as a nitrogen containing cationic surfactant or a copolymer latex at an approximately .5-50% weight by weight level and preferably within a range of from 2-10%. The chemical adheres to and penetrates the surface of the fibers or bundles of fiber to provide excellent hydrophobic and oleophilic properties. The chemical can be incorported into a process stream where wood chips are being fiberized in a well known manner, for example, at the outlet of the fiberizing machine under heat and pressure.
Abstract:
Preparation and burning of biomas-derived fuels such as wood waste or peat. Wood waste or "hog fuel" from the forest industries is of particular interest. Normally the entire stream of this material must be finely ground if it is to be successfully burned in an air suspension burner without any fossil fuel support. It has now been discovered that a bimodally sized fuel can be used. Only about 10-20% of the total heat energy is provided from a portion ground to a size less than about 100 mu m. This serves as an ignition component for a principal fuel which may be of much larger size. The usual hog fuel pile contains both bark and wood. Of these two materials, bark is much more friable and easily ground to fine particles size than wood. A major reduction in grinding energy is achieved by selecting the more friable material to be ground to fine size as the ignition fuel. The more resistant material is used as the principal fuel. When using a bimodal system, best results are obtained when the amount of ingition fuel sent to the burner is maintained constant. Load swings are accommodated by varying only the principal fuel component.
Abstract:
An apparatus which is capable of producing an image of a smelt bed (31) of inorganic chemicals collected at the bottom (30) of a kraft pulp recovery boiler. The image produced is free of interferences of fume particles and gaseous radiation which have obscured prior attempts to view hot surfaces under such environmental conditions. The apparatus includes an industrial closed circuit video camera (10) fitted with an infrared imaging detector or vidicon tube. An objective lens (11) obtains the image. An optical filter (12) interposed between the lens and the videcon is a key element of the invention and is selected to reject radiation less than about a micrometer to avoid fume interference. The filter is further selected to reject all but limited ranges of radiation to avoid gaseous species overlying the smelt bed which are strongly emitting and absorbing. As an example, a spectral filter centered at 1.68 micrometers with a band width of 0.07 micrometer is suitable for imaging a kraft recovery smelt bed.
Abstract:
Process and apparatus for mixing a wood pulp slurry with a chemical at the consistency at which the slurry exits a washer or the subsequent stem mixer, 7 to 15%. The chemicals would include non-condensable or unsaturated gases such as oxygen, ozone, air, chlorine, chlorine dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ammonia, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen chloride, nitric oxide or nitrogen peroxide. Highly superheated steam can also be mixed with the pulp. In the process, the pulp slurry would pass through a mixing zone having a swept area in the range of 10,000 to 1,000,000 square meters per metric ton of oven dry pulp. The optimum is considered to be around 65,400 square meters per metric ton of oven dry pulp. An existing extraction stage within the system may be used as a source of alkali. In an existing extraction stage, the mixer (211) and upstream oxygen line (212) would be placed in the line between the steam mixer (206') and the extraction tower (213'). The oxygen may be inserted into the pulp slurry and mixed with the pulp slurry between a pair of washers (71', 91'). The second washer (91') may be a vacuum, pressure or diffusion washer. The oxygen may be inserted into the pulp slurry and mixed with the pulp slurry between a washer (91') and the subsequent storage tank (110'). Washed wood pulp from a continuous digester (14) may be treated with oxygen in the blow line (19) from the digester (14). Most of the treatment occurs within the mixer (40). Following mixing, the pulp may be taken to a subsequent process, a diffusion washer (24), or to a storage tank (24). The pulp is treated several times during a sequence. Some sequences are O-X-O and O-O-X-O in which X may be chlorine, chlorine dioxide, a combination of chlorine and chlorine dioxide and a hypochlorite, a peroxide or ozone. The sequence may be followed by a D stage. Other systems and specific mixer designs are also disclosed.
Abstract:
A wood chip screening system has an infeed end, outfeed end and elongated thin blades (40, 42) mounted for reciprocating motion extending therebetween. The blades (40, 42) are spaced apart to allow chips with an acceptable thickness dimension to pass therethrough. The improvement includes configuring the top edges of the blades (40, 42) in a nonlinear design.
Abstract:
A densified web of cellulose fibers has a high absorbent capacity and good wet strength. The web is produced by combining cellulose fibers with a bonding agent, activating the bonding agent, allowing it to contact the cellulose fibers, and thereafter deactivating the bonding agent. The web is thereafter compressed in a cooled state to form a densified web. The web exhibits an absorbent capacity superior to that of prior densified and bonded webs.
Abstract:
A multi-ply paparboard comprising at least one ply of conventional cellulose fibers and from about 0.1 to about 6 weight percent of a water-borne binding agent; and at least one ply of chemically intra-fiber crosslinked cellulosic high-bulk fibers and from about 0.1 to about 6 weight percent of a water-borne binding agent. The water-borne binding agent may be a starch, a modified starch, a polyvinyl alcohol, a polyvinyl acetate, a polyethylene/acrylic acid copolymer, an acrylic acid polymer, a polyacrylate, a polyacrylamide, a polyamine, guar gum, an oxidized polyethylene, a polyvinyl chloride, a polyvinyl chloride/acrylic acid copolymer, an acrylonitrile/styrene copolymer or polyacrylonitrile. A method for making the paperboard.