"This instrument can be used in all areas where you need to keep track of particles," says Karin Athley enthusiastically. "Within our cluster Futures Papyrus, for example, we will have great use of it." Karin is talking about is Innventia’s newly acquired FBRM (Focused Beam Reflectance Measurement), a tool that measures the particle size (chord length) and number of particles (counts per second) in a suspension.
"The new instrument will allow us to measure more and in a different way in our experiments, which makes it possible for us to serve our customers even better. It also opens up for completely new types of missions," says Karin Athley.
The instrument is useful for a number of Innventia’s research projects and can be used in both lab experiments and on-line on paper machines. Possible applications include studying the formation of (problematic) precipitates, as well organic as inorganic. It can also be used in various types of retention tests. Since FBRM measures with a high time resolution it is possible to study fast processes. Information on particle size and number, as a function of time, makes it possible to study the formation, merging and decay of particles and agglomerates.
For the research clusters that Karin Athley leads the instrument will play an important role:
"The goal of Future Papyrus-cluster is to reduce the fibre and energy use in paper production by increasing the filler content. In order to increase the concentration of filler in the paper without losing strength, we try to pre-flocculate the filler before it is added to the fibres. Flocculated filler takes up less area (than non flocculated filler) and allows us to increase the filler content without reducing the fibre-fibre contact, which is so important for the strength of the paper."
Karin and her colleagues have therefore constructed a flow loop with a shear module in which they will measure how shear resistant the flocks are.
"So we will measure with FBRM both before and after the shear module in order to test out the best conditions and chemicals to create stable filler flocks. We will also measure the degree of flocculation in our pilot-scale experiments on the FEX," concludes Karin Athley.
