Optimizing the Other Half of the Log (Using on line measurement to understand the properties of black liquor), 2015 PEERS Conference

ARE YOU A TAPPI MEMBER? TAPPI members have exclusive, FREE access to technical conference papers and presentations six months after the conference in TAPPI's e-library. The e-Library offers:

• Unlimited access to more than 18,000+ documents
• Fast, robust search engine for fast search results
• Members get FREE access to conference proceedings, TAPPI JOURNAL articles, Paper360º articles, archived Solutions! articles, and much more
• View thousands of technical paper abstracts
• Ability to search by keyword, title, author, events or industry segment

*Technical papers and presentations are available for sale immediately following the conferences before the 6 month embargo period. 

Wood is usually the largest cost of any pulp mill. A great deal of effort has been put into the optimization and improvement of the properties of pulp which is the principal product of the log that enters a pulp mill. However, depending on wood species, approximately one half of the log goes to the recovery boiler. In comparison to pulp very little research has gone into the understanding of black liquor properties. The majority of mills operate with an uncertain picture of the black liquor that they burn in their boilers. The lignin content, the inorganic content,  the REA (residual effective alkali) and the viscosity of the liquor are not tested for on a regular basis and for the most part are not considered by operators as “needed” information to burn the liquor in their boilers. Yet operators routinely face operational problems that they do not fully understand. Usually their response to problems of this type is “the liquor has changed”.