Fpinnovations

Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada

Eco-tec Limited

Ecole Polytechnique

Lakehead University

Richard M. Berry

Michael Paleologou

Dentcho Ivanov

Michel Meunier

Arthur Yelon

Ricardo Izquierdo

Richard M Berry

Naceur Jemaa

Rokhsareh Thompson

Lamfeddal Kouisni

Craig J Brown

Michael A Sheedy

Pedram Fatehi

Talat Mahmood

Shoujuan Wang

Jacquelyn Price

Makhlouf Laleg

Xiao Zhang

Yaolin Zhang

Xiang-Ming Wang

Chunbao Xu

James Theodore Wearing

Martin W Feng

Zhirun Yuan

Gilles Brunette

Changbin Mao

George Sacciadis

Fangong Kong

Waleed Wafa Al Dajani

Norman Liebergott

Zaid Ahmad

Qingkai Meng

Yunli Fang

Adil Mazar

Brian O'Connor

Guangbo He

Simon Paradis-boies

Zeen Huang

Stéphan Raymond

Hui Wan

Ayse Alemdar-Thomson

A water-based process was developed for the synthesis of aminated lignin copolymers with high MW, thermal stability and solubility in water over a wide range of p H values. The cationic lignin copolymer described herein comprises: a grafting ratio of (weight of cationic amine compound)/(weight of lignin) of 70 to 200% and a charge density of +1.4-3.0 meq/g. This cationic lignin copolymer can be used as a flocculant in numerous wastewater streams including municipal and industrial systems and sludge dewatering in the pulp & paper, mining and oil industries.

Process for producing cationic lignin copolymer under aqueous acid conditions

The present relates to a process for the depolymerization of lignin using chemicals recoverable by the soda or kraft mill recovery cycles. The process involves the use of sodium hydroxide or white liquor to depolymerize lignin in black liquor or other lignins (e.g. hydrolysis lignin, kraft lignin) by conducting the reaction at 170-250&#xb0; C. for up to 3 hours in the presence or absence of a co-solvent and a capping agent. The depolymerized lignin is then obtained by acidifying the reaction products to a low pH to precipitate the de-polymerized lignin, followed by particle coagulation, cake filtration and washing with acid and water to obtain a purified depolymerized lignin product.

Lignin depolymerization process using chemicals recoverable by the kraft recovery cycle

The present invention relates to a method of producing furfural and extracting lignin from a hemi-cellulosic biomass solution comprising a total quantity of C5 sugars, comprising the steps of heating the hemi-cellulosic biomass solution to a temperature of at least about 200&#xb0; C.; acidifying the hemi-cellulosic biomass solution with acid to produce the furfural in vapor phase; and condensing the furfural to recover furfural in solution, wherein the furfural is produced at a total molar yield of at least 70% of moles of furfural produced/the total moles C5 sugars present in the initial hemi-cellulosic biomass solution. Low molecular weight lignin can also be recovered from the hemi-cellulosic biomass solution prior to furfural production by membrane concentration, acidification, coagulation and filtration.

Lignin recovery and furfural production from prehydrolysate streams

An acidic water-based process was developed for the synthesis of anionic lignin copolymers with adjustable MW, thermal stability and solubility in water. The anionic lignin copolymer described herein comprises: a molecular weight of 5,000 to 7.4&#xd7;10g/mol; and a charge density of &#x2212;1 to &#x2212;7.2 meq/g. The anionic lignin copolymers described herein which have a molecular weight range of 000-50,000 g/mol can be used as dispersants of negatively charged molecules or particles in numerous process or wastewater streams (e.g. concrete admixtures, gypsum slurries, textile dye) while such copolymers in a molecular weight range of 90,000-740,000 g/mole can be used as flocculants of positively charged molecules or particles in numerous process and wastewater streams including industrial and municipal systems and sludge dewatering in the textile dye, pulp & paper, mining and oil industries.

Process for producing an anionic lignin copolymer under aqueous acid conditions

Most processes currently being proposed and/or used for the production of lignin from kraft or soda black liquors are capable of producing two main types of lignin: high residual content (HRC) lignin and low residual content (LRC) lignin. Surprisingly, it was discovered that HRC lignin, is a suitable ingredient in alkaline adhesives, particularly wood adhesives of the phenolic type (e.g. resole resins). This biomaterial is environmentally green and remarkably low cost, which makes it an industrially viable material to be used as a novel and major ingredient in phenolic adhesives for the manufacture of exterior grade plywood, laminated veneer lumber, oriented strand board (OSB) and other wood products&#x2014;this was successfully demonstrated in a number of laboratory experiments as well as several different mill trials. The composition, preparation and application of such wood adhesives are hereby disclosed.

High residual content (HRC) kraft/soda lignin as an ingredient in wood adhesives

The present relates to a process for incorporating of wet natural fiber and starch into thermoplastics and the composite produced. The process for producing the composite comprises steps of: providing a wet natural fiber; providing a starch; providing a plasticizer; providing a thermoplastic; mixing the wet natural fiber, the starch and the plasticizer with water to produce a paste, and compounding the paste with the thermoplastic to produce the composite. The composite in a preferred embodiment comprises 50 weight % natural fiber/starch and a plasticizer; 50 weight % thermoplastic; a tensile modulus greater than 1450 MPa and a tensile strength greater than 41 MPa.

Process to incorporate wet natural fiber and starch into thermoplastics

Acid hydrolysis of biomass is an important step for releasing the component sugars before converting them to fuels and/or biochemicals. During such a process, a significant amount of mineral acid, such as sulfuric acid, is used. In most cases, the residual acid is neutralized with lime before the sugar conversion step. By doing so, a waste calcium sulphate stream is generated and sent to disposal. The efficient separation of acid from the sugars would allow the recycle of the acid and make the entire process more economically viable. We found that a resin bed packed with an acid retardation resin can be used to achieve an efficient separation (i.e. 98.5% recovery of the acid) of the sulfuric acid from the sugars. The resin bed can be simply regenerated with water.

Method for recovering an acid from acid/sugar solutions

The present invention describes a process and system of producing methanol from methanol condensates. In a preferred embodiment the condensates are biomethanol condensates from chemical pulp mills and various waste sources used to produce a purified biomethanol. Pulp condensates are rich in methanol and contain many other contaminants. Presently, most chemical pulp mills, such as Kraft pulp mills use steam stripping to remove and concentrate the methanol and burn the methanol onsite along with the contaminants. A combination of treatments that include air stripping, steam stripping, distillation and reverse osmosis is described to obtain purified biomethanol suitable for sale or use on site.

Method for producing bio-methanol at pulp mills

A method was developed for: a) improving the filterability of acid-precipitated lignin from kraft black liquors, b) increasing the dry solids content of the final lignin product, c) reducing the acid requirements and d) minimizing or eliminating TRS emissions during the acidification of black liquor to produce lignin and/or the subsequent suspension of the lignin in acid and/or the washing of the lignin with acid. No major difference in the chemical composition, MWD and main functional groups was found in the lignin of the present invention compared with lignins produced by conventional methods.

Method for separating lignin from black liquor

During nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) production, a considerable amount of sulphuric acid is used. After the separation of the NCC, the remaining solution contains sugars and residual sulphuric acid. The sugars are in the monomeric and oligomeric forms. To reduce the cost of NCC production and to produce other added-value products, the spent acid stream can be fractionated into sugar oligomers, sugar monomers, and acid. The acid can be recycled to the NCC manufacturing process after concentration. The sugar monomers and sugar oligomers can be used for the manufacturing of other valuable chemicals. Membrane nanofiltration can be used to achieve this objective. A polymeric membrane with a molecular weight cut-off in the range of 200 Dalton was employed. Using this approach, the majority of the acid was recovered in the permeate while the sugars were concentrated in a smaller stream. The sugar level in the separated acid/permeate stream was only about 3% of the original concentration. A second membrane filtration stage can be used to separate the monomeric from the oligomeric sugars. The two sugar streams can be employed in different applications to produce value-added products.

Fractionation of a waste liquor stream from nanocrystalline cellulose production

A method and apparatus for the treatment of pulp mill condensates is described. A hollow fiber contactor, incorporating a hydrophobic membrane, was used to remove several undesirable compounds from pulp mill condensates. For example, TRS compounds and SOwere efficiently stripped from kraft and sulphite mill evaporator condensates, respectively. Methanol was also removed from kraft mill condensates but at a lower efficiency than TRS. Furthermore, other undesirable compounds found in condensates of pulp mills that contribute to the BOD and COD loading to effluent treatment systems were also removed. These contactors are cost effective since air, vacuum or a suitable solvent or scrubbing solution can be used as the stripping medium to drive off through the membrane several undesirable compounds from the feed solution. The undesirable compounds removed can thus be burned in the recovery boiler, lime kiln or a dedicated boiler.

Process for treating pulp mill condenstates using a hollow fiber contactor

Steam stripper off gas from chemical pulp mills, for example kraft or sulphite pulp mills is rich in methanol and totally reduced sulphur (TRS) compounds. This gaseous stream is usually burned to avoid further handling of this TRS-rich, odorous stream. We found that once this gaseous stream is condensed, it can be used as a reducing agent in the chlorine dioxide generator, in place of purchased methanol. Surprisingly, we found that, in addition to the methanol component, the TRS components act as reducing agents during the production of chlorine dioxide or, at the very least, do not consume chlorine dioxide. The use of this stream in the ClOgenerator will allow pulp mills to reduce or eliminate the consumption of purchased methanol while providing a new approach to deal with TRS compounds in the chlorine dioxide generator rather than employing a dedicated TRS incinerator or any other combustion device.

Use of chemical pulp mill steam stripper off gases condensate as reducing agent in chlorine dioxide production

A composite membrane is disclosed fabricated by depositing an inorganic ion-conducting thin film on a cation-selective organic polymer membrane substrate using Pulse Laser Deposition (PLD) or reactive magnetron sputtering. The fabricated membrane combines the advantages of the polymeric membrane including flexibility and low electrical resistance, with the advantages of the inorganic membrane film including resistance to fouling, high selectivity for alkali metal ions over hydrogen ions and resistance to oxidizing chemicals; electromembrane systems and processes for example alkali metal sensing electrodes and other membrane-based electrochemical detectors, electrolytic and electrodialytic systems incorporate such membranes thus improving their performance in terms of current efficiency, salt to acid conversion ratio, reliable operation and membrane life.

Composite inorganic-polymer thin film cation-selective membrane, method

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Beaconsfield, Canada

Michael Paleologou