Author(s)

D. X. Ye, H. Li, C. H. Zou, B. Jiang

Abstract

Medium consistency technology was used to pump, stock, beat, bleach and filter pulp suspensions at a medium concentration in the papermaking industry. When the concentration exceeds 5%, it stops flowing and acts like a solid. An important property of the fluidization of pulp suspension permits the use of centrifugal pump to transport pulp suspension. Based on the experimental data of medium consistency pulp suspension, the Herschel–Buckley model of non-Newtonian fluid was modified. The rheological behavior of the pulp suspension, bleached softwood kraft pulp suspension (SBK), hardwood pulp suspension (HW), thermal mechanical pulp suspension (TMP), and stone ground wood pulp suspension (SGW) in a medium consistency pump (MC pump) with a turbulence generator were simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. A modified Herschel–Buckley model was used to approximate rheological behaviors of medium consistency pulp fibre suspension. The effects of shear stress, pump speed, fluid rheology, and the onset of fluidization were explored in the turbulence generator.

Keywords

fluidization, rheology, pulp suspensions, centrifugal pump