Course syllabus for Cellulose technology

Basic course in organic chemistry
Unit operations in Chemical engineering

The purpose of the course is to give the students knowledge of the different processes for paper pulp production from wood. Some important operations are highlighted in the laboratory sessions (kraft pulping, bleaching and mechanical pulp production). In a minor project work, the students are introduced to a flow-sheeting programme (WinGEMS commonly used in the pulping industry).

• describe the macroscopic and morphological structure of wood and give a basic description of the chemical structure of the wood constituents (cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin and extractives)
• describe different processes related to mechanical pulp production (SGW, TMP and CTMP) and explain the mechanisms leading to fibre separation during mechanical pulp production processes as well as differences in resulting pulp properties
• describe and discuss the different events taking place during kraft pulping (steaming, impregnation and delignification) - chemical, physical and kinetic aspects should be covered
• describe batch and continuous kraft pulping processes (including both conventional and modified processes)
• describe how washing, sieving and drying of pulp are carried out and discuss different phenomena involved in these operations.
• describe and discuss different bleaching sequences applied in the brightening of kraft pulp (including chemical and environmental aspects, different types of equipment, as well as pulp fibre properties)
• describe and discuss processes and phenomena involved in the chemical recovery in the kraft process (evaporation, combustion in the recovery boiler and white liquor preparation)
• give a basic description of the production of sulphite pulps and semi-chemical pulps