Method of monitoring macrostickies in a recycling and paper or tissue making process involving recycled pulp

摘要

A challenge in using recycled material in the papermaking process is the presence of hydrophobic organics with adhesive properties commonly known as “stickies.” Hydrophobic agglomerates can result in spots or defects in the final paper product or deposit on papermaking equipment resulting in poor runnability and downtime. Technologies for monitoring and controlling microstickies exist. However, a need exists for a technique to rapidly determine the size and content of macrostickies (diameter>100 microns) in recycled pulp process streams. The present invention is a device and method to perform real-time macrostickies and/or any visible hydrophobic particle analysis in an aqueous medium. Using the present invention, furnish quality can be monitored and treatment performance can be monitored and controlled. The technique is based on fluorescence image analysis to identify and count sticky particles as well as measure their size.

主权项

1. A method for measuring the effectiveness of an additive added to an aqueous pulp slurry for decreasing macrostickie contaminants, the method comprising:
shining light into an aqueous pulp slurry comprising macrostickie and non-macrostickie contaminants flowing across a streamlined body; adding a hydrophobic dye to the aqueous pulp slurry, such that the hydrophobic dye interacts with the macrostickie and non-macrostickie contaminants, the interaction causing a first modified fluorescent emission; capturing a digital image of the first modified fluorescent emission, the digital image having a background; correcting the background of the digital image; filtering from the digital image the first modified fluorescent emission caused by the non-macrostickie contaminant to create a first filtered image; adding an additive to the aqueous pulp slurry; repeating the shining, adding, detecting, capturing, correcting, and filtering to create a second filtered image; and comparing the first filtered image to the second filtered image to determine the effectiveness of the additive; wherein the streamlined body narrows the flow of the aqueous pulp slurry in the measurement area.