Black liquor processing

Kraft pulping is a common process in the paper industry. Figure 8.4 shows a simplifled flowsheet of the process. In this process, wood chips are reacted (cooked) with white liquor in a digester. White liquor (which contains primarily NaOH, NaiS, Na2C03 and water) is employed to dissolve lignin from the wood chips. The cooked pulp and liquor are passed to a blow tank where the pulp is separated from the spent liquor weak black liquor which is fed to a recovery system for... 

Three major sources in the kraft process are responsible for the majority of the H2S emissions. These involve the gaseous waste streams leaving the recovery furnace, the evaporator and the air stripper, respectively denoted by R), R2 and R3. Stream data for the gaseous wastes are summarized in Table 8.8. Several candidate MSAs are screened. These include three process MSAs and three external MSAs. The process MSAs are the white, the green and the black liquors (referred to as Si, S2 and S3, respectively). The external MSAs include diethanolamine (DBA), S4. activated carbon, Sj, and 30 wt% hot potassium carbonate solution, S6. Stream data for the MSAs is summarized in Table 8.9. Syndiesize a MOC REAMEN that can accomplish the desulfurization task for the three waste streams. 

Because these variables have a very pronounced effect on the current density required to produce and also maintain passivity, it is necessary to know the exact operating conditions of the electrolyte before designing a system of anodic protection. In the paper and pulp industry a current of 4(KX) A was required for 3 min to passivate the steel surfaces after passivation with thiosulphates etc. in the black liquor the current was reduced to 2 7(X) A for 12 min and then only 600 A was necessary for the remainder of the process . From an economic aspect, it is normal, in the first instance, to consider anodically protecting a cheap metal or alloy, such as mild steel. If this is not satisfactory, the alloying of mild steel with a small percentage of a more passive metal, such as chromium, molybdenum or nickel, may decrease both the critical and passivation current densities to a sufficiently low value. It is fortunate that the effect of these alloying additions can be determined by laboratory experiments before application on an industrial scale is undertaken. 

Black liquor is 13 to 17% strength, rinsed extract from washed and cooked woodchip pulp, produced in the Kraft pulping process. This... 

Various permutations of the black liquor recovery boiler design are used to combust soda liquors in the soda pulping process and alkaline earth liquors and ammonium liquor (red liquor) in the sulfite pulping process. 

Process contaminants such as black liquor or saponified organic oils (soaps). 

The use of the lignin fraction is much more cumbersome currently the best-known chemical of a real commercial importance is vanillin, which is obtained by oxidation of the black liquor. Another example is a product called spray-dried lignosulfonate (as sodium salt) obtained from the older, acidic sulfite pulping process. It is sold as a commercial product primarily as a concrete additive for enhanced strength. Since the cement industry is one of the big contributors of carbon dioxide emissions (due to the production of calcium oxide from calcium carbonate), the use of this renewable, wood-derived product not only is fossil-carbon neutral in itself but also reduces carbon dioxide emission due to the diminished need for cement in large infrastructures made of concrete. 

Pulping liquors. Pulping liquor, also called black liquor, is a corrosive material used to dissolve wood chips for the manufacturing of paper and other materials. To promote waste minimization and recycling, U.S. EPA excluded pulping liquors from the definition of solid waste if they are reclaimed in a recovery furnace and then reused in the pulping process. If the liquors are recycled in another way, or are accumulated speculatively, they are not excluded. 

Although newer technologies are always under development, the basic kraft chemical recovery process has not been fundamentally changed since the issue of its patent in 1884. The stepwise progression of chemical reactions has been refined for example, black liquor gasification processes are now in use in an experimental phase. The precise details of the chemical processes at work in the chemical recovery process can be found in Smook s Handbook.12 The kraft chemical recovery process consists of the following general steps ... 

The pulp and paper industry generates hazardous wastes, but most are associated with wastewater, which is rendered nonhazardous in wastewater treatment or neutralization units within the manufacturing facilities and therefore is not subject to RCRA requirements. Also, black liquor is exempt as a solid waste if it is reclaimed in a recovery furnace and reused in the pulping process. 

Recovery of inorganic chemicals is crucial to the cost effectiveness of the Kraft process. The black liquor which is obtained from delignification is rich in solubilised lignin and carbohydrate degradation products and, after concentration, is combusted in a recovery furnace. The Carbon dioxide which is produced during combustion converts unused sodium hydroxide into sodium carbonate. In addition, the sodium sulfate is converted, under the reducing atmosphere of the furnace, to sodium sulfide. 

Keywords Black liquor, crystallization process, oil palm empty fmit bunches, soda lignin, vanillin... 

Kraft pulping involves the cooking of wood chips at 340-350°F and 100-135 psi in liquor that contains sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide, and sodium carbonate. This process promotes cleavage of the various ether bonds in lignin and the degradative products so formed dissolve in alkaline pulping liquor. The Kraft process normally incorporates several steps to recover chemicals from the spent black liquor [3]. 

Jain, R.K. Gupta, A. Dixit, A.K. Mathur, R.M. Kulkami, A.G. Enhanced biomethanation efficiency of black liquor througb lignin removal process in small agro based paper mills. Bioenergy... 

Two other important side products of the kraft process are sulfate turpentine and tall oil. The turpentine is obtained from the gases formed in the digestion process. From 2-10 gal of turpentine can be obtained per ton of pulp. Tall oil soap is a black viscous liquid of rosin and fatty acids that can be separated from the black liquor by centrifuging. Acidification gives tall oil. These side products will be discussed later. 

Hagglund and Enkvist (6) developed a laboratory scale method for manufacturing methyl sulfide from kraft black liquor by pressure heating after addition of sodium sulfide. This process was later taken over by Crown-Zellerbach in the United States and developed in pilot plant and full scale. However, the yield is only about 7% of the initial lignin utilized in the process. 

In the ALCELL process, conventional hardwood chips are cooked in batch extractors with an aqueous ethanol liquor at appropriate temperatures, pH, and time. In the process lignin, hemicellulose and other various components of wood are extracted from the chips into the aqueous ethanol forming a black liquor. 

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