Patent Application
20070295463
A full and enabling disclosure, including the best mode thereof to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth more particularly in the remainder of the specification, including reference to the accompanying figures in which:
References are made in detail to present embodiments of compositions and processes to increase pulp yield and reduce scaling in a chemical pulping process, examples of which are described in detail. Each example is provided by way of explanation, and not as a limitation. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure and claims. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be used on another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the compositions and processes to increase pulp yield and reduce scaling in a chemical pulping process as disclosed herein include modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
Very generally, the present disclosure is directed to compositions and processes to increase pulp yield and reduce scaling in a chemical pulping process. A composition containing one or more polymers with phosphonate or phosphinate components along the backbone of the carbon chain is utilized. In other embodiments, a polymer with nitrogen or sulfur functionalities, in addition to phosphorus functionalities is also useful.
The present disclosure overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art in that the compositions and processes disclosed herein result in lower processing costs, easier operational procedures, and increased yield of pulp recovered from various wood sources. Specifically, the compositions and processes of the present disclosure provide an increased yield by addressing an entirely different mechanism than the prior art surfactant chemistries. In using this chemistry, a combination of surfactants and specialized and unique anti-scalant polymers, especially polymers with phosphonate and phosphinate components along the backbone of the carbon chain, calcium is bound, and is prevented from causing repreciptitation of lignin and extractives in chip flow channels, or onto the pulp fiber. As digestion proceeds, calcium is prevented from adhering to process equipment as scale. Scalants such as calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, calcium phosphate, calcium oxalate, barium sulfate, and the like, are controlled. Also, other metals are controlled, preventing them from interfering with oxidation/reduction reactions of the sulfide ions and from catalyzing the hydrolysis of sugars, hemicelluloses, and cellulose. Such metals can be found in the ash of wood chips in sufficient quantity to cause the abovementioned problems.
By way of example only, the processes of the present disclosure are described as employing compositions made up of a blend of high temperature and high pressure polymeric dispersants containing one or more polymers with phosphonate or phosphinate components along the backbone of the carbon chain. Moreover, by further example, the compositions are described as being used in a Kraft pulping process. The disclosure, however, is not to be so limited. Any of the various equivalent wood cooking processes having the production of paper as its ultimate goal may also be employed. However, the Kraft process is described in more detail as follows.
Initially, suitable trees are harvested, debarked and then chipped into suitable size flakes or chips. The wood chips that can be processed into pulp using the composition and chemical pulping process of the present disclosure can be either hardwoods, softwoods or mixtures thereof. Such wood chips are sorted with the small and the large chips being removed. The remaining suitable wood chips are then moved to a digester. The digester is a vessel for holding the chips and a digesting composition.
Illustratively, in a batch type digester, wood chips and a mixture of “black liquor”, the spent liquor from a previous digester cook, and “white liquor”, typically a solution of sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, sodium sulfate, sodium sulfide and various inorganic materials are pumped into the digester. In the cooking process, lignin, which binds the wood fiber together, is dissolved in the white liquor forming pulp and black liquor. In some embodiments, a blend of high temperature and high pressure polymeric dispersants containing one or more polymers with phosphonate or phosphinate components along the backbone of the carbon chain are added to the white liquor. Other suitable additives can be added to the white liquor as well.
The digester is sealed and the digester composition is heated to a suitable cook temperature under high pressure. After an allotted cooking time at a particular temperature and pressure in the digester, the digester contents (pulp and black liquor) are transferred to a holding tank. The pulp in the holding tank is transferred to the brown stock washers while the liquid (black liquor formed in the digester) is sent to the black liquor recovery area. The black liquor is evaporated to a high solids content in evaporators. The Kraft cook is highly alkaline, usually having a pH of 10 to 14, more particularly 12 to 14.
A Kappa number corresponds directly to the amount of lignin remaining in the pulp. Generally, the higher the Kappa number, the more lignin present in the pulp and, therefore, the higher the pulp yield. The Kappa number generally decreases as the digestion time is increased or the alkalinity of the cooking liquor is increased. The goal in such Kraft papermaking processes is to retain as much lignin as possible in order to enhance strength and to reduce the cost, while maintaining the uniformity of the cook. More uniform cooks result in a decreased percentage of rejects and, thereby, reduce costs for running paper mills.
Cooking, or digestion, of the pulp may be terminated when the amount of rejects in the pulp is reduced to an acceptable level. Substantial yield and quality advantages are achieved if the wood chips are cooked to a higher lignin content. As a result, an increase in a Kappa number target by the use of thinner chips can result in a substantial cost savings. However, the thickness of chips obtainable on a commercial scale is always variable. A major portion of the total rejects frequently originate from a relatively small fraction of the chips having the greatest thickness. The objective in every pulping process is to achieve a lower percentage of rejects.
After one or more washing steps, the pulp may be subjected to bleaching or purification treatments as desired before being sheeted and dried, or prepared for sale, or further utilized in making paper. Such bleaching processes are known in the art.
One embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a composition for increasing pulp yield and reducing the digester cycle time while reducing the pulping or bleaching chemicals required in alkaline chemical pulping processes wherein the composition is added to the digester of the chemical pulping process, the composition comprising one or more polymers with phosphonate or phosphinate components along the backbone of the carbon chain.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, one or more polymers can be utilized in the compositions and processes of the present disclosure. The polymers are made up of structural units that can include acrylic acid, maleic acid, methacrylic acid, hydroxypropyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, vinyl acetate, and the like.
In some embodiments, a component is chemically linked to one or more components mentioned above to form linear backbone segments of the polymer with nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus functionalities both in the middle and end of the linear backbone segment of the polymer. In some embodiments, the end component can include nitrogen and/or sulfur. In certain embodiments, the end component can include nitrogen and/or sulfur and can include 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid.
In some embodiments, one or more phosphonate components are chemically linked to the linear backbone segment of a polymer. Any phosphonate component as would be known in the art can be utilized. In one such embodiment of the present disclosure, a polymer with phosphonate functionality can utilize monomers such as the phosphonic compounds listed below
wherein R1-R4 and R7 can be, independently, hydrogen, an alkyl group, a cycloalkyl group, a heterocycloalkyl group, an aryl group, a heteroaryl group, a protecting group, or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, R4 is not an alkyl group. The compounds represented in the formula are referred to herein as unsaturated monomeric phosphonic compounds. These are the precursors for polymers with phosphonates in the backbone of the carbon chain.
In one embodiment, R2 and R3 can be hydrogen. R4 can also be an aryl group or a heteroaryl group. R1 and R7 can be hydrogen. In another embodiment, the compound has the formula H2C═C(R9)(PO3H2), where R9 can be hydrogen, substituted or unsubstituted phenyl, or substituted or unsubstituted benzyl.
In one embodiment, the phosphonic compounds (monomer) utilized in the compositions and processes of the present disclosure have the following formula
wherein R1-R4 and R7 can be, independently, hydrogen, an alkyl group, a cycloalkyl group, a heterocycloalkyl group, an aryl group, a heteroaryl group, a protecting group, or a combination thereof. R2 and R3 can be hydrogen and R4 can be an aryl group or a heteroaryl group. R1 and R7 can be hydrogen.
In some embodiments, the phosphonic component can include phosphonic acid, isopropenyl phosphonic acid, isopropenyl phosphonic acid anhydride, or the like.
In some embodiments, one or more phosphinate components are chemically linked to the linear backbone segment of a polymer. In one such embodiment of the present disclosure, a polymer with phosphinate functionality can utilize monomers such as the compounds listed below
wherein R1 and R2 can include acrylic acid, maleic acid, methacrylic acid, hydroxypropyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, vinyl acetate, and the like.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, a polymer with phosphinate functionality can utilize monomers such as the compounds listed below
wherein R1 and R2 can include acrylic acid, maleic acid, methacrylic acid, hydroxypropyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, vinyl acetate, and the like.
In some embodiments, temperature-resistant phosphonates and/or phosphinates are utilized. Such phosphonates and phosphinates can be stable at temperatures above 250° C. In some embodiments, such phosphonates and phosphinates can be stable at temperatures above 350° C.
In some embodiments, pressure-resistant phosphonates and/or phosphinates are utilized. In some embodiments, such phosphonates and phosphinates can be stable at pressures above 50 psi/g. In some embodiments, such phosphonates and phosphinates can be stable at pressures above 100 psi/g. In some embodiments, such phosphonates and phosphinates can be stable at pressures above 125 psi/g.
An effective amount of the compositions of the present disclosure are employed in the digester of a chemical pulping process to increase the amount of pulp produced and/or improve the efficiencies of the chemical pulping processes. The effective amount depends on the particular phosphonate(s) employed and other factors including, but not limited to, wood type, the digester composition, the operating conditions of the digester, the mode of addition of the compounds including any additional compounds added, as well as other factors and conditions known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
In some embodiments, other additives can be added to the alkaline aqueous mixture in the digester. Typical additives include, but are not limited to, conventional additives known for use in the digester of a chemical pulping process.
For example, in some embodiments, various surfactants have been added to the cooking medium to increase deresination of the wood pulp. Deresination removes various resins found in wood, including lignin, tannins, and organic solvent-extractable materials, such as fats, fatty acids, resin acids, sterols and hydrocarbons. Moreover, deresination provides for production of high grade cellulose which may be used in various manufactured cellulose-containing products.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the compositions and the processes of the present disclosure enable an increased quantity of pulp yielded from wood chips. The compositions and the processes of the present disclosure can reduce the formation of scaling in the digesting equipment, pulp washers, and evaporators. The compositions and the processes of the present disclosure can prevent the reaction of metals with fatty and resin acids, thereby making such metals easier to remove in washing, thereby improving the bleach chemical efficiency. The compositions and the processes of the present disclosure can reduce the amount of cooking liquor required to produce pulp and can enable reduction in the amount of energy required to produce pulp from wood chips.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the compositions and the processes of the present disclosure reduce the amount of organic solids contained in the black liquor of chemical pulping processes. The compositions and the processes of the present disclosure can decrease the number of rejects produced during production of pulp.
It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the specific compositions or processes described herein and that any composition having a formula or process steps equivalent to those described falls within the scope of the present invention. Preparation routes of the composition and process steps for enhancing the cook of wood chips to produce pulp are merely exemplary so as to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make the composition and use it according to the described process and its equivalents. It will also be understood that although the form of the invention shown and described herein constitutes a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is not intended to illustrate all possible forms of the invention. The words used are words of description rather than of limitation. Various changes and variations may be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims.
