Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 2

The last 10 years have seen an important shift in the production of papers and boards in Canada. The sharp*demand decline for printing and writing grades lead to several mill closures but the tissue and packaging*sectors of the industry rather see a strong and persistent increase in demand. The industry must also face the*challenge of reducing energy and water consumption while increasing the quality of its products. There is thus*a strong industrial need for efficient equipment, both to first prepare the pulp and then produce the required*paper and board grades.*Kadant is a leading supplier of stock preparation and approach flow systems designed to produce high-quality*white and brown paper grades, with extended expertise in the use of recycled fiber pulps. The company started*the development of a disk filter that can process a fiber slurry with a high solid proportion (high consistency).*Innofibre plays a leading role in this development. A pilot scale unit of the disk filter, specially designed for*development work, is located at Innofibre and joint efforts by Kadant and Innofibre already led to significant*advances.*The goal of the present research proposal is to pursue the development of the disk filter in the modern context*of the pulp and paper industry. This project will first focus on white water fiber recovery and then further the*development of the disk filter to the thickening of relatively high consistency pulp (larger than 1 % in solid*content). These objectives are in line with recent shifts in the Canadian pulp and paper industry towards the*production of linerboard and the increased mill production capacity, both phenomena requiring better*dewatering capacity and water recycling.