For paper producers, an understanding of the development of strength properties in the paper is of uttermost importance. Strong papers are important operators both in the traditional paper industry as well as in new fields of application, such as fibre-based packaging, furniture and light-weight building material. In the work reported in this thesis, three approaches to increasing paper strength were addressed: mixing different pulps, multilayering and reinforcement with man-made fibres. In specific: The effects of mixing Swedish softwood kraft pulp with southern pine or with abaca (Musa Textilis) were investigated. Handsheets of a softwood kraft pulp with the addition of abaca fibres were made in a conventional sheet former. It was seen that the addition of abaca fibres increased the tearing resistance, fracture toughness, folding endurance and air permeance. Tensile strength, tensile stiffness and tensile energy absorption, however, decreased somewhat. Still it was possible to add up to about 60% abaca without any great loss in tensile strength. As an example, with the addition of 30% abaca, the tear index was increased by 36%, while the tensile index was decreased by 8%. To study the effect of stratification, a handsheet former for the production of stratified sheets, the LB Multilayer Handsheet Former was evaluated. The advantage of this sheet former is that it forms a stratified sheet at low consistency giving a good ply bond. It was shown to produce sheets with good formation and the uniformity, evaluated as the variation of paper properties, is retained at a fairly constant level when the number of layers in the stratified sheets is increased. The uniformity of the sheets produced in the LB Multilayer Handsheet Former is generally at the same level as of those produced in conventional sheet formers. The effects of placing southern pine and abaca in separate layers, rather than mixing them homogeneously with softwood pulp were studied. Homogeneous and stratified sheets composed of softwood and southern pine or softwood and abaca were produced in the LB Multilayer Handsheet Former. It was found that by stratifying a sheet, so that a pulp with a high tear index and a pulp with a high tensile index are placed in separate layers, it was possible to increase the tear index by approximately 25%, while the tensile index was decreased by 10-20%. Further, by mixing a pulp with less conformable fibres and no fines with a pulp with more flexible fibres and fines, a synergy in tensile strength (greater strength than that predicted by linear mass fraction additivity) was obtained. The effects of stratifying sheets composed of softwood and abaca were compared to the effects of refining the softwood pulp. Homogeneous and stratified sheets composed of softwood with three different dewatering resistances and abaca were also produced in the LB Multilayer Handsheet Former. It was found that by stratifying the sheets the tear index was retained while the tensile index was increased by the refining. The effects of reinforcing softwood pulp of different dewatering resistances with man-made fibres with low bonding ability were also investigated. Man-made fibres (i.e. regenerated cellulose, polyester and glass fibres) were added in the amounts 1, 3, or 5 wt% to softwood pulp of three different dewatering resistances. It was found that with refining of a softwood pulp and subsequent addition of long fibres with low bonding ability the tensile-tear relationship can be shifted towards higher strength values. The bonding ability of the man-made fibres was evaluated by pull-out tests and the results indicated that, in relation to the fibre strength, regenerated cellulose (lyocell) was most firmly attached to the softwood network while the glass fibres were most loosely attached.

<p>Converting wood into paper is a complex process involving many different stages, one of which is pulping. Pulping involves liberating the wood fibres from each other, which can be done either chemically or mechanically. This thesis focuses on the most common chemical pulping method, the kraft cooking process, and especially on a recently developed improvement of the impregnation phase, which is the first part of a kraft cook.</p><p>Extended impregnation kraft cooking (EIC) technique is demonstrated to be an improvement of the kraft pulping process and provides a way to utilize softwood to a higher degree, at higher pulp yield. We demonstrate that it is possible to produce softwood (<em>Picea abies</em>) kraft pulp using a new cooking technique, resulting in a pulp that can be defibrated without inline refining at as high lignin content as 8% on wood, measured as kappa numbers above 90. Lignin is the wood constituent that holds the wood fibres together in the wood matrix. The new cooking technique uses the differences in reaction rate between the diffusion and consumption of hydroxide ions; it is used to ensure a homogenous impregnation of wood chips at lower impregnation temperatures and longer impregnation times than are generally used in the industry. The applied cooking temperatures are also substantially lower than those used in conventional kraft pulping systems, promoting uniform delignification. This results in a narrower kappa number distribution than in lab-cooked conventional kraft pulp.</p><p>High-kappa-number pulps were investigated for pulp sheet properties such as tensile strength, tensile stiffness, and compression strength. It was demonstrated that an EIC pulp of kappa number 95 has strength properties comparable to those of a conventional pulp of kappa number 82. Comparing the effects of starch multilayers on conventional and EIC pulps reveals similar effects. The use of the starch multilayer treatment increased the tensile index and decreased the tensile stiffness and short-span compression test (SCT) indices.</p><p>The EIC technique has also been used to produce a series of bleachable-grade pulps. The results indicate the possibility of increasing the lignin content of the pulp entering the oxygen delignification stage, since the reject content of gently defibered pulp is lower than 0.1% at kappa number 49.</p><p>In this thesis, we recommend that wood chips be impregnated for 2 h at 110 °C to neutralize acidic compounds in the wood and impregnate the chips with cooking chemicals, and that the ensuing cook be performed at 135–140 °C, depending on the target kappa number. We also recommend increasing the available amounts of cooking chemicals in the impregnation stage by using a higher liquor-to-wood ratio and keeping the alkali profile fairly high in the ensuing cook. This concept will reduce the amount of reject material, increase the pulping uniformity, and increase the selectivity towards lignin degradation in the kraft cook.</p> / <p>Omvandling av ved till papper är en komplicerad process som består av många olika steg där ett är massaframställningen (eng. <em>pulping</em>). Massaframställning medför att vedfibrerna frigörs från varandra på kemisk eller mekanisk väg. Denna avhandling fokuserar på den vanligaste kemiska metoden, sulfatkokning och speciellt den nyligen utvecklade förbättringen av impregnerings fasen, som är den första delen av ett sulfatkok. <em></em></p><p>Här visas att<em> Extended Impregnation kraft Cooking </em>(EIC) innebär en förbättring av sulfatkokningen och ett sätt att uppnå högre vedutnyttjande vid högre utbyte för barrved. Vi visar att det är möjligt att producera barrvedsmassa med en ny kokningsprincip som resulterar i en massa som är defibrerbar utan inline-raffinering vid så högt lignin innehåll som 8% (på ved), mätt som kappatal över 90. Lignin är den vedkomponent som håller ihop vedfibrerna i vedmatrisen. Kokningsprincipen utnyttjar skillnaderna i reaktionshastighet mellan diffusion och konsumtion av hydroxidjoner och nyttjas till att skapa en homogen impregnering av vedflisen vid lägre impregneringstemperatur och under längre tid än vad som vanligen används i industrin. De använda koktemperaturerna är också betydligt lägre än vid konventionell sulfatkokning vilket gynnar jämn delignifiering. Detta resulterar i en smalare kappatalsfördelning jämfört med laboratoriekokade konventionella massor.</p><p>Massor med höga kappatal undersöktes med avseende på egenskaper hos handark, såsom dragstyrka, dragstyvhet och kompressionsstyrka Det visades att handark från EIC massa vid kappatal 95 hade jämförbara styrkeegenskaper med konventionell massa vid kappatal 82. Vid jämförelse av effekten av stärkelse multilager på konventionella och EIC massor avslöjar liknande effekter. Användningen av stärkelsemultilager ökade dragindex och minskade dragstyvhets- och kompressions index (SCT, short-compression test).</p><p>Kokprincipen har även använts för att ta fram en serie blekbara massor. Resultaten visar på möjligheten att öka lignininnehållet i massan in till i syrgasdelignifierings-steget eftersom spetinnehållet för milt defibrerad massa var lägre än 0,1% vid kappatal 49.</p><p>I den här avhandlingen rekommenderar vi att vedflis impregneras i 2 timmar vid 110 °C för att neutralisera sura komponenter i veden och impregnera flisen med kokkemikalier, samt att utföra det efterföljande koket vid 135–140 °C beroende på önskat kappatal. Vi rekommenderar även att öka den tillgängliga mängden kokkemikalier i impregneringssteget genom att använda högre vätske-ved förhållande och att hålla alkali profilen relativt hög i det efterföljande koket. Detta koncept reducerar spetmängden, ger jämnare kokning och ökar selektiviteten för nedbrytning av lignin i sulfatkoket.</p>