Refining Response of Fibre Materials with Medium Consistency Refiners
Several kinds of fibre materials including waste paper, wheat straw, bamboo and hardwood pulp were refined by using medium consistency refiner (MC refiner) at pulp consistency of 6-10%, and fibre fractions classification and length distribution after refining, paper physical properties and specific energy consumption during refining were compared with the refining process by using traditional low consistency refiner (LC refiner) at pulp consistency of 3-4%. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of pulp consistency on refining response of the fibre materials. Results show that refining at consistency of 6-10% with the MC refiners effectively preserves fibre length, and the pulp after refining contains higher proportion of long fibre fractions in comparison with the pulp refined at consistency of 3-4% with LC refiners. It is also found in the experiments that physical properties of the paper made from the pulp refined at consistency of 6-10% with the MC refiners obviously enhance, and specific energy consumption during refining reduces by 30% compared with the refining at consistency of 3-4% with LC refiners.