Combining Stickies Monitoring and Control in Recycling, 2010 TAPPI PEERS Conference

Please Note: This document will be available in PDF format in the "My Electronic Documents" link on the home page once your order has been completed. Please make sure you have the latest version of Acrobat Reader. Click on the Acrobat Reader icon to check for the latest version, it’s FREE. To print a hardcopy of a PDF file correctly you must have a postscript printer. If you are not sure if your printer is a postscript printer please refer to your owner’s manual.

Stickies and tackies—present as contaminants in recycled fiber—cause numerous problems for paper, board and tissue makers including reduced quality in the form of sheet defects and decreased machine efficiency which is caused by an increase in frequency of wash-ups, blade changes, web breaks and felt filling. One result of these problems can be a limitation on the proportion of recycle fiber utilized, which can increase furnish costs and make it difficult to meet grade requirements with a desirable recycle content. To minimize a detrimental effect of the organic contaminants, deposit control programs have been developed that integrate stickies- and tackies-control chemistries with continuous monitoring. This proactive approach towards deposit control, referred to as “DC-PRO technology,” is used for dose optimization, trial evaluation and studying the effect of process conditions on the deposit propensity of the pulp slurry. The monitoring method is based on the Quartz Crystal Microbalance technology, applying a new technique of surface sensitization towards organic deposits in a continuous-flow system. A new commercial tool, on-line deposit rate monitor (DRM), was developed based on this principle and tested in stickies, pitch and white pitch applications. Examples of field use are presented that demonstrate how process conditions may affect stickies deposition, which reflect machine parameters and how introduction of a deposit control chemistry affects stickies deposition dependent on the dose. With demonstrated success in the laboratory and in the field, this approach enables papermakers to optimize chemical usage, ensure deposit control program performance, improve operating efficiency and ultimately reduce total cost of operation