Evaluation of well-defined tool surface designs for groundwood pulping

Abstract

Groundwood pulping is a process in which logs are pressed against a rotating grinding stone. A conventional grinding stone is generally made of grinding particles in a vitrified matrix. As the particles are practically round, their contact with the wood is limited to occasional point contacts. The interaction between the particles and the wood occurs at random positions and at random times, only intermittently contributing to the defibration process. In this work, well-defined grinding tools with asperities giving line contacts rather than point contacts were tested. The tool surface asperities were elongated in shape and positioned with different density over the surface. The tools were tested in a lab-scale equipment at elevated temperatures, and their performance was compared to that of a conventional grinding stone. The grinding mechanisms varied between the different tools, and the specific grinding energy was reduced compared to the conventional tool.