Surfactant and their behaviour in different pulps used to produce highly porous materials.

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Volume Title

School of Chemical Engineering | Master's thesis

Date

2024-08-30

Department

Major/Subject

Chemical and Process Engineering

Mcode

Degree programme

Master's Programme in Chemical, Biochemical and Materials Engineering

Language

en

Pages

54

Series

Abstract

Foam forming process represents a manufacturing technique that facilitates production of environmentally friendly, highly porous, and low-density items using lignocellulosic fibres. In foam forming method, fibre foam is created by mechanically mixing water, surfactant, and fibres to achieve desire amount of air in foam. This thesis work investigates the foaming behaviour of anionic and non-ionic surfactants, and mechanical properties of foamed sheets produced using CTMP, CTMP-Kraft (50/50), and CTM-OCC (50/50) blends composition. Experimental work involved testing nine surfactants with above mentioned three pulps to achieve 50% of air content within 3-4 minutes of foaming time interval. Surfactant dosage, pulp consistency, and foaming time were varied to study their effects on foaming behaviour. Three-point bending test was conducted to evaluate mechanical properties of foam formed sheets. Results indicate that surfactant type, pulp composition, pulp consistency, and processing conditions significantly influence foam production. Anionic surfactants require relatively lower dosage to achieve desire results compared to non-ionic surfactants. CTMP-OCC blends exhibit the highest bending strength due to favourable fibre characteristics and optimal processing condition. The study highlights importance of understanding surfactant-pulp interactions for optimising foam production process. Recommendations for future research include conducting industrial scale testing, controlling environmental factors, and performing detailed fibre surface analysis.

Description

Supervisor

Lipponen, Juha

Thesis advisor

Jetsu, Petri

Keywords

foam forming process, surfactant foaming behavior, CTMP, kraft, OCC, pulps, bending strength

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