DOMTAR CORPORATION Innovation isn't just one of our core values at Domtar; it's also the driving force behind defining success in 21st-century manufacturing by finding new and unique ways to do more with less. Our recent research on filler fiber is one such innovation.
Our fiber research and development scientists, along with the engineering team at the Marlboro Mill, have developed a process to produce paper at a much lower cost using a filler material as a substitute for wood fiber. The scientists are calling it 'filler-loaded fiber technology.'
This patent-pending process isn't as complicated as it might seem. Wood fibers are actually made of many smaller fibers called fibrils. During the papermaking process, these fibrils are entangled with the manmade filler known as precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), which is a combination of lime, water and carbon dioxide that is supplied at a fraction of the cost of wood fiber. By combining PCC with Domtar's patented Stealth Fiber Technology™, we can increase the amount of PCC filler fiber in the paper.
'We started commercial trials about two years ago, and today we're using it full time on some of our grades,' says Marlboro Final Products Manager Chuck Thames. 'So far, the results have been promising and are producing the cost and sheet benefits we expected.' He says the continued success rate at Marlboro will dictate our path forward in implementing the filler fiber technology at other paper mills in our network.
Filler Fiber Lowers Costs, Maintains QualityDomtar Research & Development Director Harshad Pande says using PCC filler-loaded fiber technology to mechanically entangle fillers into fiber gives the paper improved optical properties while saving a significant amount of fiber cost.
'Paper produced using Stealth Fiber Technology™ allows us to increase the amount of filler in paper while still maintaining its strength and other important properties like brightness and smoothness,' he says.
Normally, higher amounts of filler in a paper sheet can lead to loss in strength, which could in turn affect a paper machine's ability to run reliably. Pande says our process actually helps minimize strength loss so we can add more filler and reduce cost while still maintaining sheet strength.
Of course, the amount of fiber cost savings yielded depends on the amount of filler fiber used to achieve that optimal balance, but Pande says the cost-saving benefits are actually twofold: not only do we reduce costs by using less fiber, but also the fiber saved by using filler can now be sold as incremental pulp volume. For example, using an additional 2 percent PCC filler at the Marlboro Mill would translate to about $3 million in annual savings as a result of the saved fiber that can be sold as dry pulp.
'The discovery and vetting of this filler-fiber technology is a great example of our innovation efforts at work,' says Domtar Paper Manufacturing Vice President Bill Edwards. 'I am extremely proud of the collaboration and creativity of all our team members who made this innovation possible. It's the result of a lot of hard work and dedication by our fiber research team and the mill production and engineering teams. We're very excited about this project's potential to achieve significant cost savings across our mill system given that it is transferrable to many other locations in our mill network.'
Tags: Marlboro Mill, paper fiber, research at Domtar, technology
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Domtar Corporation published this content on 05 November 2019 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 05 November 2019 06:19:09 UTC
