Sticky stuff
3 Feb 2003
Insights into particle behaviour could help laboratory equipment maker Varian and Canada's Alberta Research Council (ARC) to devise ways of saving water in paper production.
The organisations have developed a thermal colloid analyser, which will help manage the composition of sticky resin byproducts.
The analyser combines a UV-visible light spectrophotometer from Varian with software and analysis tools designed by ARC.
'Our breakthrough has been to recognise and characterise the relationship between particle stickiness and the thermal response of light scattering in the pitch [resin byproduct] particles,' explains Ted Garver of ARC's Aquantix Group. Pitch tends to foul papermaking machinery, causing downtime and loss of production.
Measurement of pitch properties is carried out in a laboratory, and water input is then adjusted to make the particles less sticky.
'Using our technology, these tests can be performed faster, cheaper and more accurately,' says Garver.
'We estimate cost savings for a mill to be 50 per cent of their present costs, or approximately $250 000 per year.'
