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physical properties of blends of aspen kraft wood pulp
and alkaline sulphite flax straw pulp
Al Wong, Arbokem Inc. Vancouver, Canada
ABSTRACT. The evaluation of the basic physical strengths
of blends of peroxide-bleached alkaline-sulphite flax
straw pulp and ECF-bleached aspen kraft pulp has been
undertaken. Preliminary test results indicated that
flax straw pulp can enhance the tear-tensile and tear-burst
strength profiles of bleached aspen kraft pulp, for
the manufacture of printing paper. The strength enhancement
was evident at the 15% usage of flax straw pulp in
the blend. (AK19421W)
Proc. Tappi Pulping Conference, Boston, MA, November,
2000.
Experience
in the technical and market development of agri-pulp
printing papers in North America
Alfred Wong, Arbokem Inc., Vancouver, Canada
ABSTRACT. The renewed public interest of agricultural
fibre-based paper is continuing in North America. There
are substantial technical and market challenges to
overcome in the commercial realization of a mass-use,
agri-pulp™ paper project in the Western economy.
Successful usage of straw for paper manufacture presents
challenges: to reduce destruction of the natural forest,
to help create an alternative model for the maintenance
of rural economy and to test novel manufacturing technologies
which do not pollute. Using classical wood-based pulping
technology does not fit into the economic context of
a modest-scale farming community based project.
Arbokem Inc. initiated its own agri-pulp mill project
in 1989 with the goal of establishing an agri-pulp
mill which has zero-effluent discharge. The demonstration-scale
agri-pulp mill located in Vulcan, Alberta, Canada was
designed and constructed by Arbokem in 1993/94. It
was started up in mid-1994. There were major successes
and setbacks in the project realization path.
Various grades of mass-use printing papers containing
different types of agri-pulp and wastepaper were produced
and test-printed. In particular, agri-pulp paper for
offset printing, photocopying and inkjet printing has
been made and sold in North America since 1996. (AGRI-PULP™ is
a registered trademark of Arbokem Canada; AK19167W).
Proc. 4th International Non-Wood Fibre Pulping and
Papermaking Conference, CTAPI, Jinan, China, September
18-21, 2000. pp. 23-32.
Socio-economic
and technical issues of on-purpose fibre cropping and
food cropping
Alfred Wong, Arbokem Inc., Vancouver, Canada
ABSTRACT. On-purpose fibre cropping and food cropping
are the two means to supply non-tree based, cellulosic
fibres for papermaking. For most papermaking applications,
on-purpose fibre cropping is an inefficient supply
approach. It is unnecessary to set aside arable land
for fibre production only. Food cropping with co-production
of surplus straw is the most practical and environmentally-benign
means to deliver large quantities of papermaking fibres.
The farm economy could be improved significantly with
the collection and sales of surplus cereal straw for
industrial uses. Greenhouse gas emission could be reduced
concomitantly through such a practice. (AK19493W)
Proc. 1st World Conference and Exhibition on Biomass
for Energy and Industry, Sevilla, Spain, June 5-9,
2000. pp. 238-240
Agripulp™ newsprint
Al Wong, Arbokem Inc., Vancouver, Canada
ABSTRACT. The concept of using agricultural fibre for newsprint in the
North America is a technical and economic challenge. The principal obstacle
is the current availability of relatively low-price wastepaper and virgin
wood fibre for the manufacture of newsprint.
In 1995, Arbokem began the development of a novel newsprint which contains
a significant quantity of agricultural pulp fibres. The goal was to make
a high-performance newsprint on a modern paper machine. The primary agricultural
fibres considered were cereal straw and seed grass straw.
About 163 tonnes (180 short tons) of standard (49 g/m2) newsprint was
made successfully on the No. 1 Bel-Baie paper machine of Smurfit Newsprint
Corp. (Oregon City, Oregon). The final furnish of the Agri-Pulp™ newsprint
contained 20% Agri-Pulp™ , 12% thermomechanical wood pulp (TMP)
and 68% old newspaper pulp (ONP). The Agri-Pulp™ was made from
Oregon rye grass straw, California rice straw and British Columbia red
fescue straw. In the weeks following the papermaking test run, the Agri-Pulp™ newsprint
was test-printed commercially by the Los Angeles Time, Santa Rosa Press-Democrat,
San Jose Mercury News, Paradise Post, Sacramento Bee, The Oregonian and
The Orange County Register. The pressroom operators generally found the
printing quality and physical strengths of the test Agri-Pulp™ newsprint
to be somewhat better than those of standard newsprint. (Agri-Pulp™ is
a registered trademark of Arbokem Inc., Vancouver, Canada; AK17708W)
Proc. 4th Biomass Conference of the Americas, Oakland, California, USA,
September, 1999.
Agricultural fibre supply for
pulp production
Al Wong, Arbokem Inc., Vancouver, Canada
ABSTRACT. Agricultural cropping residues are the only readily available
source of fibre for agri-pulp production. Its aggregate quantity of 260
million tonnes in North America could have a significant impact in reducing
forest-based wood usage for paper manufacture, in real time. (AK15346W)
Paper present at Fiber Futures '97 Conference, Monterey, California,
June 2, 1997.
Agri-pulp is fine furnish
Al Wong, Arbokem Inc., Vancouver, Canada
ABSTRACT. A commercial scale trial is being planned for the production
of an agri-pulp newsprint. Several large dailies such as the New York
Times and the Los angeles Times have already agreed to participate in
the commercial pressroom runs.
NAA TechNews, Jan-Feb, 1996. p. 12.
Aquasolve pulping of non-wood
fibers
Spencer, M., University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, Allen,
S., University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, Antal, M.J. University
of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA and Wong, A., Arbokem Inc., Vancouver,
Canada
ABSTRACT. Non-wood fibres (sugar cane and hesperaloe) have been pulped
using hot com[pressed liquid water (220 C, 5 MPa, 120 s). No additional
chemicals, additives, pre- or post treatments were employed. Since only
water was used, the term “Aquasolv”, meaning to dissolve
with water, has been adopted to describe the process. Unbleached refined
pulp produced from depithed sugar cane had acceptable strength properties
and could likely be used in a mixture with chemical wood pulp. The selectivity
of this chemical-free delignification is lower than that of conventional
kraft or sulfite process.
Proc. 3rd Tropical Pulp and Paper Conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
December, 1994.
Impact of biomass potassium
on the operation of effluent-free agri-pulp mills
Alfred Wong, Arbokem Inc., Vancouver, Canada
ABSTRACT. Agricultural fibres routinely contain a high quantity of potassium.
The origin is due to the natural uptake of potassium from the soil. A
pulp mill using agricultural fibre will have a significant inflow of
biomass potassium into the mill process. As Group I elements, potassium
and sodium ions have similar physical and chemical properties. Process
losses of potassium can be expected to be essentially in the same proportion
as those of sodium. Modern chemical pulp mills are required to have little
or no effluent. As a sodium-base pulp mill is discharging less effluent,
potassium concentration can be predicted to become progressively predominant.
(AK11935A)
Proc. Tappi Pulping Conference, San Diego, USA, November, 1994.
Technical and economic obstacles
affecting the early commercialization of kenaf pulp manufacture
Alfred Wong, Arbokem Inc., Vancouver, Canada
ABSTRACT. Kenaf is widely recognized as a specialty fibre crop which
can be substituted for wood in the production of papermaking pulps. The
two distinct fibre fractions of kenaf offer unusual versatility in the
design of papermaking pulps for specific end uses. At present, there
are no large –scale or extensive production of such pulps from
kenaf, anywhere in the World. There are several technical and economic
obstacles affecting the early commmercializtion of kenaf pulp manufacture.
The technical and economic problems include kenaf supply logistics and
security, the selection of optimal pulping and bleaching schemes for
the available raw material, management of inputs of non-process elements
with the kenaf raw material, economic management of process effluents,
and market competitiveness of the finished pulp products. (AK8196)
Proc. 1991 TAPPI Pulping Conference, Orlando, Florida, USA, November,
1991.
pp. 505-512.
Potassium pulping of industrial
fibre crops and agricultural residues
Al Wong, Arbokem Inc., Vancouver, Canada
ABSTRACT. Industrial fibre crops are for, among other things, the manufacture
of papermaking pulps. The two major end use categories of fibre crops
are: Wood pulp substitute – jute, bamboo, straw, bagasse, kenaf
stem; Specialty pulp – flax, hemp, sisal, esparto, abaca, kenaf
bark. Because of the seasonal nature of crop fibre availability, and
unsolved economics of large-scale fibre collection and transport, most
pulp mills using agricultural fibres are typically of small pulp production
capacities. Unfortunately, pollution control measures for the operation
of a small-scale pulp mill are very costly. The cost for pollution control
may exceed the cost of the pulp production unit in many cases. There
is a need for clean manufacturing technology.
Arbokem has developed a novel technique for the small-scale manufacture
of papermaking pulp from agricultural materials. The technology is based
on the use of potassium chemicals instead of sodium chemicals. In our
novel technology, the spent pulping liquor and bleaching effluent are
used to produce potassium-based fertilizer for market. Costly expenditure
for chemical recovery of spent pulping liquor, or ex-plant effluent treatment
could thus be avoided entirely. (AK7038)
Proc. AAIC International Conference, Riverside, California, USA,
October 9-12, 1990.
Potassium-based pulping of wheat
straw
Alfred Wong, Arbokem Inc., Montreal, Canada, Dixon Ng, Arbokem Inc.,
Montreal, Canada, Jerry Hull, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon,
USA and W.J. Frederick, jr., Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon,
USA
ABSTRACT. Potassium-based pulping of agricultural residues offers a
novel means to dispose of spent pulping liquor in a safe and economical
fashion. Present study showed that potassium-based and sodium-based sulphite
pulping systems are comparable in pulping rate and pulp quality. (AK5622A)
Proc. 1989 Tappi Pulping Conference, Seattle, USA, October, 1989.
Shive content in flax fibres
Alfred Wong, Arbokem Inc., Montreal, Canada
ABSTRACT. Linen and oilseed flax fibres are commonly used for the production
of speciality pulp in the manufacture of high-quality cigarette, currency
and thin papers. Most pulp mills use either the kraft or neutral sulphite
cooking procedure. The yield of pulp from fibres is dependent mainly
on the specific procedure and the quality of the fibre raw material.
The unavailability of a reliable test method for the estimation of shive
content hindered the assessment of the commercial quality of the raw
material. In this study, several chemical and physical techniques were
evaluated. The acid-insoluble lignin method was found to be the most
reliable and accurate for a broad range of flax raw materials. For a
given pulping technique used, less woody material (shives) in the raw
material will produce higher net pulp yield.
Proc. 1988 International Non-Wood Fiber Pulping and Paper Making Conference,
Beijing, China, July, 1988. pp. 415-424.
Quality of effluents from
the chemical pulping of oilseed and linen flax fibres
Al Wong, Arbokem Inc., Montreal, Canada
ABSTRACT. Samples of spent pulping liquor were tested for BOD, COD and
colour. The liquors were from neutral sulphite pulping of different blends
of oilseed flax and linen flax fibres. The test results showed that BOD
and colour loadings were virtually unaffected by the fibre blends used
or by the tital poulp yield achieved. In contrast, COD loading was found
to increase markedly as the pulp yield was decreased. The BOD loading
of kraft pulping effluent was found to be at least 2 times greater than
that of neutral sulphite pulping effluent, at a given pulp yield.
Proc. 1987 Tappi Pulping Conference, Washington, DC, November, 1987.
Effect of tetrahydroanthraquinone
(THAQ) on the neutral sulphite pulping of seed flax fibres
Al Wong, Prairie Fibre Inc., Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada
ABSTRACT. Cigarette, Bible and currency papers are normally made with
flax pulp. The principal processes used for the pulping of flax fibres
are modified kraft and alkaline/neutral sulphite . The present study
showed that the addition of 0.1% tetrahydroanthraquinone (THAQ) can improve
the neutral sulphite pulping of seed flax fibres. The process benefits
include 2% higher pulp yield and 33% shorter cooking time. The quality
of the bleached “THAQ” flax pulp was comparable to that of
the reference pulp.
J. Pulp Paper Sci., 13, 1: J14 (1987).
Neutral sulphite pulping of
seed flax and textile linen flax fibres
Al Wong, Prairie Fibre Inc., Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada
ABSTRACT. Samples of (medium-retted) seed-flax and (well-retted-linen-flax
fibres were pulped in the laboratory. The neutral sulphite pulping process
was used. Seed-flax fibres gave about 7% lower pulp yield than linen-flax
fibres. A blend of 70% linen-flax and 30% seed-flax fibres showed no
appreciable difference in pulp yield from that of 100% linen flax fibres.
Preliminary test data indicated that seed-flax pulp would be easier to
bleach than linen-flax pulp, even when the former pulp was of higher
Kappa number. The physical strengths of the bleached pulps were virtually
identical.
Proc. 1986 Tappi Pulping Conference, Toronto, October, 1986.
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