The invention herein disclosed and claimed is a process for refining fiber from lignocellulosic biomass. The process provides refined fiber and agriculturally amenable co-products, with a virtually waste-free systems design.

The invention herein disclosed and claimed is a process for refining fiber from lignocellulosic biomass. The process provides refined fiber and agriculturally amenable co-products, with a virtually waste-free systems design.

The invention relates to a method for pitch control and/or removal during bleaching of cellulosic fibres. Cellulosic fibres are obtained from a pulping process and formed into an aqueous cellulosic fibre suspension, and bleaching of the cellulosic fibre suspension is performed in a bleaching process comprising at least one acidic stage, where pH of the cellulosic fibre suspension is <6. A pitch control agent is added to the cellulosic fibre suspension before the acidic stage, wherein the pitch control agent comprises at least one cationic polymer comprising cationic functional groups which are hydrolysed at pH 9.0

A method for monitoring hydrophobic particles contained in a pulp suspension, includes obtaining a sample from a pulp suspension or a filtrate of the pulp suspension. A fluorescent dye is added to the sample to stain particles in the sample. The sample is fractionated to obtain at least a first fraction and a second fraction, wherein the second fraction is a fiber fraction. The method includes for the obtained fractions, fluorescence emitted by the particles in the fractions, calculating an integral of the fluorescence measured for the fractions excluding the fiber fraction, and correlating the calculated integral of the fluorescence to the amount of acetone soluble material in the pulp suspension, and optionally measuring light scattering signal of the particles in at least first and second fractions.

The present invention relates to a process for obtaining cellulose or a mixture containing at least cellulose and at least lignocellulose from at least one substrate that is at least to some extent amenable to fermentation comprising at least the steps of (1) to (3) and optionally (4), namely conversion of the substrate via addition of at least one inorganic base into an aqueous mixture with pH≥8.5 (step 1), ultrasound treatment of the aqueous mixture obtained after step (1) (step 2), separation of the aqueous mixture obtained after step (2) into a liquid aqueous phase and a disperse mixture containing, cellulose or a mixture containing at least cellulose and at least lignocellulose (step 3) and optionally purification of the disperse mixture obtained after step (3) containing cellulose or of the mixture containing at least cellulose and at least lignocellulose (step 4), where step (1) and step (2) of the process respectively are carried out at a temperature <100° C. and Where the ultrasound treatment in step (2) takes place in one or more treatment phases, where the duration of a treatment phase is in the range from 0.2 to 60 seconds and each treatment phase is carried out with a sonotrode frequency in the range from 14 to 22 kHz.

The present invention relates to a process for obtaining cellulose or a mixture containing at least cellulose and at least lignocellulose from at least one substrate that is at least to some extent amenable to fermentation comprising at least the steps of (1) to (3) and optionally (4), namely conversion of the substrate via addition of at least one inorganic base into an aqueous mixture with pH≥8.5 (step 1), ultrasound treatment of the aqueous mixture obtained after step (1) (step 2), separation of the aqueous mixture obtained after step (2) into a liquid aqueous phase and a disperse mixture containing, cellulose or a mixture containing at least cellulose and at least lignocellulose (step 3) and optionally purification of the disperse mixture obtained after step (3) containing cellulose or of the mixture containing at least cellulose and at least lignocellulose (step 4), where step (1) and step (2) of the process respectively are carried out at a temperature <100° C. and Where the ultrasound treatment in step (2) takes place in one or more treatment phases, where the duration of a treatment phase is in the range from 0.2 to 60 seconds and each treatment phase is carried out with a sonotrode frequency in the range from 14 to 22 kHz.

The present invention relates to the creation of thermally insulating materials derived from cellulosic materials by selectively depolymerizing the materials anatomy. Cellulosic materials may be comprised of three main biopolymers: lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose. The present invention relates to the chemical and physical removal of lignin and hemicellulose, while leaving the cellulose unaltered to induce increased porosity within the material and the material's macrostructure matrix for use as thermal and acoustic insulation. The increased porosity will be due to the creation of closed cell voids within the cellulosic matrix. These voids will increase the thermal and acoustic insulating performance of the cellulosic materials. The selective removal of secondary biopolymers from cellulosic materials allow for isolation of other value added products that can be regenerated through fewer reactions/steps. This is a novel advantage over other similar processes that dissolve cellulose completely, making it harder to extract and isolate secondary off-stream products.

A method of reducing contaminants in a pulp or papermaking process includes the steps of: providing a lignocellulosic pulp comprising lignocellulosic fibers and at least one hydrophobic contaminant; providing a cationic polymer; providing a cleaning blend comprising a vegetable oil alkyl ester and at least one surfactant; and applying the cationic polymer and the cleaning blend to the lignocellulosic pulp to reduce a content of the at least one hydrophobic contaminant in the pulp or papermaking process.

A method includes forming an aqueous fibre suspension including cellulosic fibres from one or more raw material flows, and applying at least one chemical and/or physical control measure to the aqueous fibre suspension or at least one of its raw material flows for control of microbial activity in the aqueous fibre suspension or the raw material flow before an inlet of an intermediate residence entity. In this manner a starting ORP value for the aqueous fibre suspension is obtained. The aqueous fibre suspension is in the intermediate residence entity at least a minimum delay time. A final ORP value is measured for the aqueous fibre suspension after an outlet of the intermediate residence entity before the formation of the fibrous web. An ORP difference value between the starting ORP and final ORP values is calculated. Finally, the aqueous fibre suspension is formed into a fibrous web and dried.

A method includes forming an aqueous fibre suspension including cellulosic fibres from one or more raw material flows, and applying at least one chemical and/or physical control measure to the aqueous fibre suspension or at least one of its raw material flows for control of microbial activity in the aqueous fibre suspension or the raw material flow before an inlet of an intermediate residence entity. In this manner a starting ORP value for the aqueous fibre suspension is obtained. The aqueous fibre suspension is in the intermediate residence entity at least a minimum delay time. A final ORP value is measured for the aqueous fibre suspension after an outlet of the intermediate residence entity before the formation of the fibrous web. An ORP difference value between the starting ORP and final ORP values is calculated. Finally, the aqueous fibre suspension is formed into a fibrous web and dried.