Industrial-Scale Implementation of the Organocell Process in Kelheim, 1992 Solvent Pulping Symposium Proceedings

The Organocell Process is the result of a 14-year development to pulp woody materials with alcohol and alkali in the presence of small amounts of anthraquinone. After the process had been explored and developed on a semi-commercial scale in a 5 tpd demonstration plant, plans were made in 1988 to build a 150,000 tpy full-scale commercially operating plant. This plant went into operation in September 1992. The equipment used in the plant is very similar to that used in a conventional Kraft mill, with the exception that safety precautions had to be taken due to the methanol in the system. The chemical recovery is very similar to that used in a Kraft mill, the methanol recovery being incorporated into the black liquor evaporation plant. The heat content of the weak black liquor is used to recover the methanol from solution. Fiber properties are similar to Kraft pulps, in some applications even exceeding the quality of fully bleached Kraft pulps.