Recovered Fiber Pulping :

In stock preparation using recovered fibers, used fibers are pulped, purified and
optionally de-inked. Depending on the paper grade and the type of furnish used, a
wide variety of recovered paper processing systems can be applied combining
similar processes differently to fullfil specific tasks. Generally, these can be in two
main categories:
processes with exclusively mechanical cleaning, i.e. without deinking comprising
products like Testliner, corrugating medium, uncoated board and carton board;
processes with mechanical cleaning and deinking comprising products like
newsprint, tissue, printing and copy paper, magazine papers, coated board and
carton board.
In a typical processing system, recovered paper is put into a pulper together with hot
water or white water (water from paper machine) and pulped with mechanical and
hydraulic agitation resulting in disintegration into fibres. For processes with
deinking, chemicals such as surfactants and NaOH can sometimes be added as
pulping additives. Low consistency (4-6% dry solids), high consistency (15-20% dry
solids) and drum pulpers are the three main types of pulpers and there are batch and
continuous types. Contaminants and clusters are removed by mechanical means
during pulping.
For further removal of mechanical impurities hydrocyclones and screens are used.
Depending on the furnish quality to be achieved, recovered paper processing also
includes fractionators, dispergers or refiners.A fractionator separates the pulp into
two fractions rendering it possible to treat short and long fibres of the pulp slurry in
different manners. The energy demanding process of disperging can be performed
in order to achieve improved fibre-to-fibre bonding (better strength characteristics)
in the paper produced and to reduce visible dirty specks in size. A stock preparation
plant for the processing of recovered paper can be optionally equipped with refiners
to improve optical and strength characteristics of the paper. Refining is associated
with a substantial energy demand. An example arrangement for a stock preparation
plant for processing recovered paper for two-ply Testliner is shown in the figure
below (BREF, 2010. pp.474-475).
Although the actual energy demand varies depending on the extent and types of
contamination and final pulp yields, pulp production from recovered and secondary
materials is usually less energy intensive. Examples of typical energy consumption
levels taken for real cases for stock preparation of different paper grades is given in
table below (BREF, 2010. p. 486).
Energy consumption levels for stock preparation of different paper grades (BREF,
2010. p. 486)
Packaging
Paper
Newsprint Low weight
coated/Super
calendered
Tissue paper and
market pulp
Recovered
paper quality
Sorted mixed
paper and
boards,
recovered
paper from
stores
Deinkable
recovered paper
(old newsprint and
old magazines)
Deinkable
recovered paper
(old newsprint
and old
magazines)
Deinkable
recovered paper
(old newsprint +
magazines); wood-
free office
recovered paper
Electricity
consumption
(kWh/t)
150 -250 300 420 400 500 400 500
Thermal
energy
consumption
(MJ/t)
0 (heating may
be required if
dispersing is
applied)
450 900
(= 0.2-0.4 t
steam
/t)
650 1100
(= 0.3-0.5
t
steam
/t)
650 1100
(= 0.3-0.5 t
steam
/t)
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Recovered fiber Pulping Schematic :

Figure 1. Flowsheet of an example stock preparation plant for processing paper for
recycling for case-making material (two-ply Testliner), BREF 2013


Recovered fiber Technologies and measures :
Technology or
Measure
Energy Savings Potential CO2 Emission
Reduction
Potential Based
on Literature
Costs Development
Status
Increased Use
of Recycled
Pulp
Use of recovered pulp can
reduce energy
consumption by 10 to 13
GJ/t-pulp (IEA, 2012. p.35))
.The production of one
ton of recycled pulp is
estimated, on average, to
consume 6.3 to 11.6 GJ
less energy compared to
chemical pulp and 6.3 to
10.6 GJ/t less as compared
to mechanical pulp.
(Kramer et al., 2009. p. 27)
Studies estimate
the construction costs
of recycled pulp
processing capacity at
around $485/ton of
pulp. Depending on the
price of waste paper
versus virgin pulp this
may result in up to
$73.9 per ton of pulp in
operations and
maintenance cost
savings (Kramer et
al.2009. p. 97).
Commercial
Using Drum
Pulpers
A study suggests that if a
vat type pulper is replaced
with a continuous drum
pulper in de-inking
operations, energy
consumption reduction by
over 25% can be achieved.
(Kramer et al. 2009. p. 97)
Energy consumption can
be reduced by 10 kWh/t-
pulp as compared to a
batch pulper (NCASI,
2001. p131)
For a 300 t/d
capacity plant,
CO
2
reductions
due to reduced
power demand
are estimated to
be 1055 t CO2/y.
(NCASI, 2001.
p.131)
Costs of a continuous
drum or dry pulper will
be higher than those of
batch equipment with
equivalent capacity.
For a 300 t/d capacity
plant , annual savings
are estimated to be
around $37 000 [2001
dollars] (NCASI, 2001.
p.131)
Commercial
Fractionation
of Recycled
Fiber
11 to 13% reductions in
electricity consumption,
and up to 40% reduction in
thermal energy can be
achieved.
Capital reduction of 13
to 22% can be achieved
compared to traditional
de-inked pulp (DIP)
lines.
Commercial
Upgrading of
Stock
The option one results in
energy consumption in the
The investment and
operational costs of
Commercial
Technology or
Measure
Energy Savings Potential CO2 Emission
Reduction
Potential Based
on Literature
Costs Development
Status
Preparations
Plants with
Decreased
Electricity
Consumption
and Emissions
range 45 kWh/tonne and
95 kWh/tonne. The second
option consumes between
75 kWh/tonne and 175
kWh/tonne.
option two are higher
than that of option one.
Secondary
Separation
Pulper for
Pulping
Process in
Wastepaper
Treatment
For a mill with original
production capacity of 365
tpd, installation of this
technology helped
increase capacity to 445
tpd and reduced energy
consumption by around
146 800 kWh/year (NEDO,
2008. p.160).
Equipment cost is
estimated as 90
million. Construction
cost is around 30
million approximately
(NEDO, 2008. p.160).
Commercial
Continuous
Batch Fibre
Recovery
System to
Processing
Recovered
Paper in a
Complete
System
Process is more energy
efficient.
Investment costs are
low.
Commercial
Heat Recovery
from De-
inking Effluent
For a mill in the US
having effluent streams at
49 C and flow rate of 2.7
m
3
/min, the installation of
a heat exchanger to
recover heat and generate
warm filtered shower for
the mill's paper machines
is estimated to reduce
boiler fuel consumption by
39 000 GJ/y.
Fuels savings for the
boiler are estimated at
$125,000/y. Capital
costs had been
$375,000 with a
payback period of
around 3 years.
Commercial
Recovery of
Boiler Ash and
Production of precipitated
calcium carbonate (PCC)
CO
2
emissions
are reduced due
Production of
precipitated calcium
Demonstratio
n
Technology or
Measure
Energy Savings Potential CO2 Emission
Reduction
Potential Based
on Literature
Costs Development
Status
CO2 Gas to
Produce
Recycled
Mineral Fibres
for Use in
Paper
using boiler ash requires
up to 50% less fossil fuels
compared to producing
CaO from limestone
quarry (CaCO
3
).
to reduced fossil
fuel use for CaO
and due to CO
2

being captured
from
incineration of
de-inking
residues.
carbonate (PCC) from
deinking ash as a raw
material is appealing in
countries where landfill
costs are high as it
gives both economic
and environmental
benefits.
XTREME
Cleaner
This technique reduces the
enegy consumption by
50% of as compared to the
conventional dispersion
systems.
The technology saves
between $3,500 -
$11,000 per day by
using low-grade
furnish.
Commercial
Electrohydraul
ic
Contaminant
Removal
Improved sticky removal,
floatation and clarification
may lead to direct energy
consumption reductions of
10 to 15% in contaminant
removal and cleaning
equipment (Kramer et al.,
2009. p. 111).
Demonstratio
n
Screenable,
Pressure-
Sensitive
Adhesives for
EnviroSensitiv
e Labels
N/A The technology
indirectly saves
CO2 emissions
by increasing
the recycling of
wider varieties
of paper.
Commercial
Incineration of
Residues
One ton of rejects (from
mills without de-inking)
with about 45% water
content can substitute 0.7
tons of brown coal in the
boiler. in a German plant
with 370 000 t/year
production capacity,
incineration of rejects in a
Because the
rejects help
substitute coal,
and about 50%
of solid matter
in the rejects are
CO
2
natural
substances, CO
2

emissions are
The investment cost for
a co-incineration plant
including facilities for
reject pretreatment,
drying and the
gasification chamber
for a reject volume flow
rate of maximum 3
t/hour is estimated to
Commercial
Technology or
Measure
Energy Savings Potential CO2 Emission
Reduction
Potential Based
on Literature
Costs Development
Status
hearth combustion (with a
capacity of 28 000 t/year)
that is integrated in the
power plant of the mill,
fossil fuel usage
corresponding to 66 000
MWh was reduced.
reduced. be around 2.5 million.
In Europe, these can
provide annual annual
savings of 0.6 million,
assuming costs for
landfilling of 50/t. An
additional EUR 0.3
million/yr can be saved
through the
substitution of brown
coal.

A. Increase use of recycle Pulp :
Use of recycled fibers can significantly reduce energy consumption in pulp production.
However, as compared to chemical pulping, this can be at the expense of increased CO
2

emissions, when fossil fuels are used for recovered pulp (IEA, 2009. 138)). There is
significant potential to increase recycling rates, particularly in non-OECD countries where
the rates are between 10 to 50%. Whereas the theoretical limit for waste paper recovery is
estimated at 80%, the limit is believed to be closer to 60% in practice (IEA, 2012. p. 35)
Recycled pulp produces sludge that can present a disposal problem. Additionally there are
limitations to the amount of recycled fiber that can be used for a given product (Kramer et al.
2009. p. 97).
B. Drum Pulper :
Many deinking plants use vat type pulpers, often with batch operation. Batch pulpers have
higher energy demand and lower productivity (NCASI, 2001. p. 130). Drum Pulpers can be
implemented to mills that produce pulp from recovered paper and paperboard. The more
gentle mechanical action of the drum pulpers make the contaminants to remain intact while
the paper is defibrated. Drum pulpers have lower energy requirements than conventional
mechanical pulpers, can use less water, and reduce fiber shortening. However, when drum
pulpers are used in brown fiber applications, the rapid wetting of furnish and the incomplete
removal of bailing wire can reportedly cause problems. (Kramer et al., 2009. p. 97)
Because baling wire must be removed from the paper prior to it entering the drum pulper,
bale dewiring and bale breaking equipment may be required in addition to the drum pulper if
it does not already exist at the mill.(NCASI, 2001. p. 130)

Figure 2. Drum pulper Schematic
Drum pulper fact is:
Drum pulper facts
1. Drum pulpers are most commonly used in applications that involve deinking
stock based on recycled newspapers and magazines. The use for brown grades
is also increasing.
2. The key benets offered by drum pulpers are the extremely efcient removal
of contaminants, even from highly contaminated furnish, and low energy
consumption.
3. Typically, a drum pulper consists of a horizontally positioned, gently inclined
drum tube. In the rst zone of the drum, the raw material is disintegrated
through slushing. In the second, screening zone, bers are recovered and
contaminants separated.
4. The bulk of the work is performed in the drums slushing zone. Accordingly, the
operational ef ciency of this zone is crucial to the pulping results and energy
consumption.
5. Approximately 45% of the raw materials used by the worlds board and paper
industry is recycled paper. This illustrates the great importance of the efcient
recycled-ber lines and processes to the paper industry.

There are many type of drum pulper, here are the example :
1. Fibreflow Drum Pulper from ANDRITZ
The ANDRITZ FibreFlow drum pulper is used for fiber slushing and
separation of coarse contaminants for all kinds of recovered paper. High
production capacity and low power consumption in a single unit make the
FibreFlow drum pulper the preferred choice for continuous pulping.

Figure 3. ANDRITZ fibreflow drum pulper

Wastepaper furnishes are defiberized by means of continuous turnover (via
dropping and falling inside the rotating drum). This action gently separates
fibers from contaminants with minimal fiber loss. The contaminants are
rejected continuously and automatically. The drum has two sections
(pulping and screening) wetting, chemical impregnation and defiberizing
take place in the pulping section. Fiber recovery and reject separation take
place entirely in the screening section.
Benefits of the FibreFlow drum pulper :
Best-accepted quality, improved ink detachment, and brightness gain
(thanks to gentle pulping and efficient removal of coarse contaminant
with minimum fiber loss)
Highest availability due to single drum machine design with no internals
that can create wire build-ups
Reliable and proven mechanics
Minimum maintenance and efficient single drive
Suited for all kinds of recovered paper

2. Optislush Drum Pulper from Metso
An intensive project to develop the OptiSlush drum pulper was started in
2001 after careful evaluation of industry slushing needs. The drum pulper
benefi ted from Metso-wide synergies. For example, the experience gained
from Metso Papers Debarking Drum was utilized in designing, and the drive
units were designed by an experienced in-house supplier.
Later that same year the first drum pulper suitable for laboratory research
and development purposes was introduced and placed in Metso Papers
Fiber Technology Center at Anjalankoski, Finland. The pilot drum pulper,
one of the key pieces of equipment in a recycled fiber line, enables perfect
sim ulation of a mill scale pulper due to the fact that it has the same drum
diameter. It has a capacity of 100 t/d and is capable of continuous operating
trials.

Figure 4. Optislush Drum Pulper

Benefits of the OptiSlush drum pulper :
Optimum pulp quality from most of materials
High performance, efficiency, yield and availability
Low operating costs and energy consumption
Adjustable pulping intensity and time (patented intensity adjustment
program)
Easy cleaning and maintenance
Environmental friendliness
Flexibility for different applications and rebuilds





Here some information about installation in many paper mill :


C. Fractionation of recycled fiber
Recycling has been greatly issued over the last several years in the paper industry.
There is an increasing pressure to recycle paper products to manage our resources
properly. Additionally, paper recycling in many cases is economically favored. When
using recycled fibers for tissue making, it was shown that it was possible to save up
to 55% in fiber cost [1]. However, recycled fiber characteristics such as strength and
flexibility are significantly lower than virgin fiber resulting in poorer quality products.
Because many physical properties of products are gained through the fiber
selection, there is a direct conflict between some physical properties and recycled
content. Especially in the tissue industry, consumers expect premium quality, i.e.
high softness and absorbency at a low cost. Therefore, in order to meet the cost and
quality requirements of the consumers, both recycled and virgin fibers will have a
place in the tissue industry.
Fiber fractionation is a term used for a process that splits a feed stream into two
streams with different properties. The benefit of fractionation is the capability to
select fibers depending on the product specifications. The two fractionated fiber
streams may be treated differently (i.e. refining, chemical addition) and re-mixed
before being sent to papermaking. A number of advantages may be gained by
fractionation such as greater strength development of the long fiber fraction,
enhancement of surface and optical properties with short fiber fraction and
substantial energy savings due to reducing refining throughput. Kohrs [2] reported
that the reduction in the investment costs for dispersing and refining in some
fractionation systems was about one third.
Musselmann [3] rated several types of equipment for fiber fractionation such as
thickener, side hill screen, vibration screen, pressure screen, hydrocyclone and
centrifuge. In addition, flotation cells [4-5] and disc-filters [6] can be used for fiber
fractionation. To select suitable devices for fractionation, the objective of the
fractionation and the existing mill conditions must first be considered. The
parameters to be considered when selecting a fiber fractionation system are energy
cost, throughput and fiber selectivity. Thickeners, side hill screens and centrifuges
have a low selectivity.
Repeated recycling causes fibers to become less suitable for papermaking. The
fibers become less flexible and shorter than virgin fiber and do not conform as well.
The results of this loss in flexibility and conformability are lower strength and less
bonding between the fibers,which result in a weaker, lower grade of paper.
The goals of the fractionation determine the method used. Following fractionation,
the longer and stronger fibers can be refined to a higher strength, which reduces the
need for more expensive virgin fiber furnish. Fractionation also results in the
removal of fines from the furnish by separating out much of this material with the
short fiber furnish. By separating out short, low-freeness fiber, only the longer
portion of the furnish needs to be refined, resulting in a possible overall decrease in
refining energy.
Fractionation is an integral part of producing multilayer paperboard and corrugated
containers from secondary fiber. New cleaning and pulping technologies make the
production of multilayer paperboard from secondary fiber inviting (1). In multilayer
paperboard manufacture, fractionation is used to produce a sheet that can be
altered to fit the required properties (2). The short fraction can be used as the filler in
the center of the sheet, while the long fraction can be used as liner stock.
Adjustments may be made to the proportion of long and short fractions to obtain
desired properties.
Similarly, in corrugated containers, The short fraction is used as the corrugated
medium, while the stronger long fraction is used for the liner (1). The fiber
separation creates two fiber streams that are more valuable than the feed stream
alone.
The greatest problems with utilizing secondary fiber are a continually changing
source, the poor quality of furnish as compared to virgin fiber, and a lower-quality
product (6). Fractionation can help solve many of these problems. The long fiber
component separated through fractionation theoretically contains mostly softwood
fiber and contributes to strength properties. The short fiber component contributes
to the smoothness and opacity of the sheet.
How To Fractionating Secondary Paper
By changing the normal operating conditions, pressure screens, centrifugal cleaners,
and pulpers can be used. Other options for fractionation include source separation,
selective pulping, and sccreening equipment, such as side-hill screens.
An overview of industry-scale fractionation equipment concluded that screen
fractionation and pressurized digestion are the most economically sound when
considering the annual return on investment.
A. Pressure Screens
Pressure screens are an integral part of many stock preparation areas,
especially in the secondary fiber area. In terms of the fractionation of fibers
into long and short components, it was found that the geometry of the
basket had an effect on the performance of the screen.
Profiling the flow side prevented the formation of a filter mat and gave less
distinct separation but more uniform suspension properties. Contour slotted
screens reduced long fiber fractionation, decreased the reject rate, and
reduced sensitivity to consistency and contaminant content. It was possible
to achieve good separation with slotted screens at either high or low reject
rates, where the long fiber fractions were considered the reject. However,
with holes, good separation could only be achieved at low reject rates.
The effect of hole size in the pressure screen on fractionation was shown by
LeBlanc and Harrison where, as expected, increase the hole size increased
the accepts flow, thus increasing the average length of the long fiber.
When pressure screens are also used for contaminant removal, a
competition exist between the fractionation and cleaning functions of the
pressure screen. In the case of fractionating contaminated pulp, coarse
contaminants, as well as wax and hot melts, tend to be concentrated in the
long fraction. Profile screens that induce a pulse into the stock flow reduce
this tendency.
A high proportion of long fiber can be achieved with a two stage screening
cascade.

B. Centrifugal Cleaners
Centrifugal cleaners can also be used for fractionation of fibers and have
been studied in some detail. However, in the centrifugal cleaners, hydraulic
shear, hydraulic drag, density, and centrifugal force play a role in the
separation of material.


Fig. 5. Schematic flow motion in a hydrocyclone

A hydrocyclone, also known as a centrifugal cleaner, has gained widespread
use as classifying equipment due to its low energy and space requirements.
During the operation of a hydrocyclone, Fig 5, the pulp suspension is
injected tangentially through a feed pipe located near the top of the device.
Under the influence of the centrifugal and drag forces generated by the
swirling suspension, a movement of the fibers relative to the water is
produced. This relative motion between the fibers and the suspending fluid
depends largely on the basic fiber properties.
In general, cleaners tend to separate the pulp into flexible and stiff
component. The cleaner underflow (rejects) tends to contain the longer-
stiffer fibers that have a lower specific surface.
The overflow (accepts) contains the well refined, more flexible fibers as well
as the fines. Along these lines, a separation into springwood and
summerwood fractions was achieved using centrifugal cleaners. This allows
the stiffer fiber to be separately refined and then returned to the furnish,
thus improving properties. Other investigations indicated that cleaners can
separate based on specific surface area.
However, as cleaners also affect contaminants, there is a difference in the
impurity content with the wax accumulated in the flexible fraction and
aluminium foil concentrated in the less flexible fraction, although this may
depend on the specific operating conditions.

C. Fractionation Pulping
Selective or partial pulping of the secondary fiber supply can lead to
fractionation by fiber type or source. Selective pulping achieves separation
by pulping to the point where the component of the recovered paper that
defiberizes easier is sufficiently disintegrated so as to be removed from the
remainder of the furnish through coarse screening.
For example, under the proper mechanical, chemical, and time conditions,
the medium of old corrugated containers (OCC) is reduced to smaller pieces
than the linerboard, thus allowing a separation.

D. Upgrading of stock preparation plants
There are two main options for stock preparations plants. The first one consists of
minimized cleaning and screening in the stock preparation plant without
fractionation and without further fibre such as dispersion and further cleaning and
screening. The second option comprises of fractionation and dispersion. After
fractionation process, screening and heavy-and light-weight cleaning of the long-
fibre fraction is applied.


Energy
Savings
Potential
The option one results in energy consumption in the range 45
kWh/tonne and 95 kWh/tonne. The second option consumes
between 75 kWh/tonne and 175 kWh/tonne.
Costs The investment and operational costs of option two are higher than
that of option one.

There might be different aims for upgrading of stock preparation plant concepts.
They depend on the priorities set by a given company such as better removal of
smaller impurities and contaminants to improve product quality and efficiency of
the paper machine, enhanced recovery of fibres from rejects thus reducing the fibre
losses, or energy savings. Another aim can be simplification of the stock preparation
system resulting in less energy consumption, less material losses, and less space
needed. In order to simplify the stock preparation, especially for brown grades the
possibilities for removal of energy consuming dispersion and traditional cleaning
stages are discussed. In contrast, extended process concepts with a higher number
of process stages might be used to manufacture paper for special purposes or to
meet the customers needs (high-quality products).
The processing of recovered paper targets first of all the removal of non-fibre
components (e.g.plastics, metal, wood, sand) and the elimination of detrimental
substances such as stickies, wax or small pieces of undisintegrated paper (flakes) of
wet-strength paper. The second goal of pulp processing is the treatment of the
fibres themselves to control the quality of the paper to be produced. To achieve this
aim, fibres can be fractionated into long-fibre and short-fibre fractions and further
treated. For example, low intensity refining improves the bonding ability of the
recycled fibres, resulting in increased strength characteristics of the paper produced,
and disperging improves the optical homogeneity of the paper.
For each specific treatment of recycled pulp, special machines are used in various
ways. Thus, the screening and cleaning processes must operate in two to four stages
in order to reduce the fibre losses in the final stage of each process. To realise an
adequate runnability of the paper machine it is also essential to operate additional
cleaners and screens in the stock approach flow system. This prevents that deposits
released from chest walls or from pipes enter the headbox and the wet-end of the
paper machine. These deposits would lead to web breaks and downtime of the
machine.
A balance between cleanliness of stock, fibre losses, energy requirements and costs
have to be found and are to certain extent depending on the paper quality produced.

In the following some of the different technical options for stock preparation plant
concepts are highlighted including there major advantages and drawbacks.
Implications for the electricity demand are indicated.
Figure 6 shows four examples for stock preparation plant concepts for processing
recovered paper for 2-ply testliner. This paper grade is used as an example because
of its high importance in tonnage for paper and board mills in Europe and because
information was easily available.
Table 1 compiles for these four options the major characteristics, summarises the
electricity demand, and gives some explanations concerning the lay out of the stock
preparation plant. The figures for electricity demand for the four different systems
result from the values for specific energy demand for single process units as
compiled in Table 2 further below. They should be considered as a realistic
approximation. Real mills might have slightly lower or higher values.


Figure 6. Four examples for stock preparation plant concepts for processing
recovered paper for 2-ply testliner. [IFP, 1998]









Table 1. Major characteristics and electricity demand of different stock preparation
plant concepts for processing recovered paper for 2-ply testliner. Some explanatory
notes are given where considered helpful [Data derived from IFP, 1998].









Table 2: Specific energy demand and operating consistencies for unit processes in
the production of Wellenstoff and Testliner [IFP, 1998; data according to a
machinery supplier]; data refer to 100% efficiency]


Applicability and characterisation: Process-integrated measure. Rebuilds of stock
preparation plants as well as of the stock approach flow system can be usually
realised in existing mills. A "standard" stock preparation plant typically uses more
machines than are required for this "minimised" stock preparation plant system
(example 1). To adapt a "standard" system to a "minimised" concept, the shut down
of only a part of the equipment is necessary and probably some new pipes and
pumps for the connection to the machine chest are required. The stock approach
flow system has to be extended. Existing screens from the stock approach flow
system or from the stock preparation plant are usually not sufficient, due to the
limited capacity when screen baskets with a narrow slot width of 0.15 mm are
installed. Therefore, investments of advanced pressurised screens for the approach
flow system would be necessary.

Main Achieved environmental performance: The electricity demand for stock
preparation and stock approach flow system is between 20 and 40 % of the total
power demand of a recovered paper processing mill without de-inking. Therefore,
optimisation of the stock preparation plant with respect to savings of electricity is
worth considering. Reduced electricity consumption results in reduced air-borne
emissions, which depends further on the type of fossil fuel used.

The environmental advantage of the concept example 1 is related to savings of
electricity for the stock preparation and the stock approach flow system. A system
installed in a German paper mill operates with an electrical power demand of 60
kWh/tonne paper produced. For comparison: the mean value of the electricity
demand given in the Table 5.25 below results in a power demand between 45
kWh/tonne and 95 kWh/tonne (average 70 kWh/tonne) paper for the system shown
as example 1. In comparison to a concept where screening as well as light- and
heavy-weight cleaning of the long-fibre fraction after fractionation is applied
(example 3) the energy demand of example 2 is reduced by 10 % to 20 % (65
kWh/tonne 160 kWh/tonne).

The main positive effect on the environment achieved by "extended" stock
preparation plant concepts as example 4 is related to high paper machine efficiency
resulting from a very clean pulp with improved strength characteristics.
The electricity demand given in Table 5.24 above results from figures for specific
energy demand of unit processes given in Table 5.25 below. As can be seen, the
differences in electricity demand between the four options are significant: example
4 (with all options) requires between 110 kWh/tonne and 270 kWh/tonne compared
to 65 kWh/tonne and 160 kWh/t consumed by example 2.

However, it has to be born in mind that improved efficiency of the paper machine
that is achieved by cleaner pulp results in lower specific electricity and steam
demands for paper production, because during breaks the paper machine still uses
electricity and steam. In contrast, technologies that are connected with the need for
more frequent system washing (downtime) decrease energy efficiency and increase
emissions.
Cross media effects: Paper machines running with increased efficiency have lower
electricity and steam demands per tonne of paper. The improved recycled fibre
quality results in an improved paper quality.
The rejects from different process stages can be collected separately and used for
different purposes. For example, rejects containing high amounts of plastics can be
incinerated with the benefit of considerable energy recovery, due to their high heat
values. Rejects with high amounts of organic fibre material can be used for
composting. The rejects of the high-density cleaner as well as of the pulper disposal
system usually are disposed of by landfilling because of their high content of
inorganic material (e.g. stones, sands, staples, clips, etc.)
Operational data: World wide a large number of mills are producing testliner with
fractionation and dispersion. Sometimes refining is also included in the stock
preparation plant. Nevertheless, no exactly identical systems appear to exist.

Example 1 as shown in Figure 5.15 can be regarded as a "minimised" stock
preparation plant concept. It is running in one mill producing testliner and
wellenstoff (Zlpich Papier Recycled Paper Europe, Germany). With respect to the
achievable paper machine efficiency and local limitations this stock preparation
plant concept has to be regarded as an experiment. Because of limited time of
experience it is not yet possible to evaluate the success of this energy saving
concept. The system seems to result in slightly increased losses of fibres.
Screening in a conventional stock approach flow system has predominantly an
insurance against accidental contamination with low demands for maintenance. The
maintenance required in the conventional stock preparation does not necessarily
contribute to a paper machine shut down because of the pulp storage capacity in
available chests. In contrast, if finely slotted screen baskets (with a slot width of 0.15
mm) are applied in the approach flow system in order to achieve sufficient clean
recovered pulp (as in example 1) those screens require more extensive maintenance
for cleaning. This results in a shut down of the paper machine and lost production.
Therefore, the paper machine efficiency with the "minimised" stock preparation is
normally poorer than that with a well equipped "standard" stock preparation plant.

Economics: The investment and the operation costs of example 2 are lower
compared to the example 3 and 4 and higher compared to the example 1 shown in
Figure 5.15. However, increase of costs for the operation of the stock preparation
plant has always to be evaluated in the light of improved paper machine efficiency.
A lower number of shut downs and web breaks as well as improved paper quality are
also important factors.
Besides the higher investment costs for the equipment of "extended" stock
preparation concepts (example 4), increasing operation costs in terms of the
electricity demand for stock preparation have to be expected. "Minimised" stock
preparation concepts (as in example 1) require relatively low investment costs. Low
electricity reduces operation costs also.

Driving forces for implementing this technique: The principal driving force for
implementing stock preparation plant concepts with a higher number of process
stages is the high quality requirements of the paper to be matched, which has to
compete on the market with paper manufactured from virgin fibre. A further
incentive is that paper machine runnability should be improved. The driving forces
to implement stock preparation plant concepts with "minimised" process stages are
lower investment and operation costs mainly savings of electrical power as a result
of the fewer machines required.

Example plants: Several mills in Europe are equipped with a stock preparation
system similar to example 2 including fractionation and dispersion. However, the
equipment installed and the number of process stages varies and no exactly
identical system appears to exist. Some mills also have implemented a dissolved air
flotation for process water treatment. The combination with washing as shown in
example 4 has not been realised for testliner production so far.




E. Secondary separation pulper for pulping process in wastepaper treatment
The pulper enhances pulping by causing wastepaper fibres to swell. The
conventional process also pulverizes the impurities contained in the waste paper.
These impurities are difficult to remove. The secondary separation pulper does not
pulverize the foreign matter. The device continuously separates external matter and
simultaneously performes the pulping function. Although the energy saving effect
of the equipment itself is not very large, it makes a large contribution to energy
saving in the downstream processes by eliminating the need for equipment for
removal of foreign matter.
The installation of this equipment also helps increase the mill capacity significantly
(In one Japanese plant, capacity was increased from 365 to 445 tons per day with this
technology) (NEDO, 2008.p. 159).

Energy
Savings
Potential
For a mill with original production capacity of 365 tpd, installation
of this technology helped increase capacity to 445 tpd and reduced
energy consumption by around 146 800 kWh/year (NEDO, 2008.
p.160).
Costs Equipment cost is estimated as 90 million. Construction cost is
around 30 million approximately (NEDO, 2008. p.160).

Figure 8. Secondary Separation Pulping
The pulper is a facility to facilitate maceration of collected wastepaper to form a
slurry and to remove large foreign materials. The pulper swells fibers to promote
maceration and adds a small amount of caustic soda to help remove inks when the
paper treated requires deinking. Formerly, wastepaper was soaked in water at a low
rate of only several percent and vigorously agitated by a rapidly revolving impeller to
achieve maceration by slashing; in such an operation foreign materials were
crushed. The drawbacks were that the crushed foreign materials must be removed
in the subsequent processes and the rotation and agitation consumed a large
amount of power; in other words, the former process was very low in energy
efficiency. The secondary pulper has been developed as a countermeasure against
these drawbacks. The secondary pulper conducts preliminary maceration and
continuously removes foreign materials without breaking them. Use of the
secondary pulper could reduce the degree of maceration and hence could achieve
energy saving in the total operation of wastepaper processing.
In general, the pulper operation is either in batch or continuous depending on
whether the liquor is at high concentrations or at medium concentrations,
respectively. The operation consists in separating coarse raw materials and
eliminating such heavyweight foreign materials as metals and feeding the coarse
raw materials to the secondary separation pulper. The secondary separation pulper
is equipped with punched plate screens and a rotating impeller macerator for
preliminary maceration and removal of large foreign materials intact to finally send
the treated material to the subsequent processes.

Table 1 Effect of secondary separation fulper (Feed: Collected waste corrugated
fiberboard)

Energy saving effects :
Addition of the secondary separation pulper could increase processing capacity by
20 percent. However, it does not achieve energy saving in the maceration process
alone. It could facilitate the subsequent dust removal operation by removing foreign
materials without crushing them. For this reason, it has a great energy saving effect
on the total processing of waste paper in this way.

[Economics] Equipment cost :
Investment amount (A): 80 to 90 million yen
Improvement effect (B):70 million yen/year
Investment payback (A/B): 1.2 years

Remarks
The average electric power consumption in the maceration process is 66 kW/ton
when processing old newspaper including deinking and 52 kWh/ton when processing
used corrugated fiberboard.










F. Continuous batch fibre recovery system to processing recovered paper
The continuous batch fibre recovery (CBFR) system has the potential to improve the
competitiveness of smaller mills and paper machines. It can process recovered paper
materials in quantities as low as 3 t/d. The main objective is to provide mini recycling
mills close to the source of recovered paper. The process combines several
traditional processes that are used in recovered paper processing. Hence it
eliminates several processes such as deflaker, washing, flotation, dispersion and
kneader.

The continuous batch technology is a connected modular system which provides
for individualized process control of each module, controlled consistency transfers,
and the elimination of most pumps and pipes to transfer fiber within the immediate
direct system.
Recent application of a more economical and related process technology has been
successful in recovering fiber from various classifications of recovered paper
materials. A new continuous batch fiber recovery system has been developed
which uniquely combines the individual stages of deinking technology, pulping
through bleaching. The results indicate the potential for excellent recycled fiber
quality while reducing energy consumption and equipment requirements. The initial
trials focused on deinking newspapers and resulted in a 62 brightness and a 35 ppm
dirt count from the processed materials.
(http://www.tappi.org/Bookstore/Technical-Papers/Conference-
Papers/1995/REC95/Continuous-Batch-Fiber-Recovery-An-Economical-Alternative-
1995-Recycling-Symposium-Proceedings.aspx)

Pellerin Milnor Corporation, a leading manufacturer of commercial laundry
equipment, has developed a modular fiber recovery system that is a variation of an
established product line known as the continuous batch Tunnel Washer system. Due
to the unique material transfer methods of the Tunnel Washer system, several
process functions are combined in a single piece of equipment.
It begin with prototype that consisted of one seven-module continuous batch
Tunnel Washer system. Monitored functions included loading, pulping, separating,
reject handling, screening, washing/thickening, clarification of liquid streams, and
overall system fluid flow.
This technology brief details the evaluation of a small-scale system for fiber recovery
from milk carton/drink boxes (MCDBs). Pulp characteristics, effluent characteristics,
and operating costs were monitored during the systems trial.





In Table below, the operating costs are extrapolated to compare a Tunnel Washer
system processing MCDBs with a state-of-the-art deink system processing mixed
office waste (MOW).

References to operating costs include only variable cost and labor. Semi-variable
costs (operating and maintenance supplies) and fixed costs (depreciation, taxes,
salaried labor) are not included. The MCDB system is penalized for labor due to
lower production capacity; however, the system is more cost effective than a state-
of-the-art deink system for chemicals and energy. Effluent treatment and residual
disposal are comparable between the two systems.
The test system yield was 63.8% BDT to BDT (bone dry ton of feed stock to bone dry
ton of pulp product) for postconsumer MCDB. For variable costs to be comparable to
a state of the art, optimum sized, market deink pulp mill, the yield on milk carton
would need to be approximately 73% BDT to BDT.

Future Development : Further development work has resulted in significant optical
property improvements: a dirt count of 10 PPM and debris level of 0.03%.


G. Heat Recovery from De-Ink Effluent
De-inking effluents are usually discharged at relatively higher temperatures and they certainly
represent the possibility of low-grade heat recovery. The installation of heat exchangers in the
effluent discharge system can recover some of this heat for mill uses such as plant water heating.
Energy
Savings
Potential
For a mill in the US having effluent streams at 49 C and flow rate of 2.7
m
3
/min, the installation of a heat exchanger to recover heat and generate warm
filtered shower for the mill's paper machines is estimated to reduce boiler fuel
consumption by 39 000 GJ/y.
Costs Fuels savings for the boiler are estimated at $125,000/y. Capital costs had
been $375,000 with a payback period of around 3 years.