Process-Pulps & Functional Fibres

UST’s Manager: Michel PETIT-CONIL

Objectives

Innovate in the chemical and/or mechanical manufacturing of lignocellulosic fibres to reduce production costs, limit the environmental impacts and develop new processes and products.

Competences

Manufacturing processes of chemical and mechanical pulps, bleaching, characterisation of fibres, biotechnologies applied to processes.
Consultancy and expertise: diagnoses of production lines, solutions for industrial problems, expertises for objects of contention, training courses.
 

List of publications UST - Updated January 2011

Activity

In liaison with the cluster of the FCBA new materials, the objectives of the research projects are:
1) enhance the fibre natural diversity and improve processes,
2) develop the use of biotechnologies,
3) characterise fibres, modelise and predict papermaking processes,
4) finally develop the biorefinery concept for pulp mills and functionalise the fibres to acquire new properties.

Shared materials with FCBA

  • Laboratory materials for chemical pulping and pulp bleaching (sizes varying from 25 ml to 10 L), including specific reactors for ozonation.
  • Laboratory materials for pulp characterisation: kappameter, automatic viscosimeter, extraction systems, near IR- spectrophotometer.
  • Laboratory refiners: Valley pile, Jökkrö mill, PFI mill.
  • 1 cooking pilot of 200 kg – chip capacity enabling the simulation of main chemical pulp manufacturing processes.
  • 2 pilots enabling the simulation of refiner mechanical pulp manufacturing processes (5 and 40 kg/h) and fibre manufacturing processes for panels.
  • 1 bleaching pilot (100 kg - pulp).
  • 2 pulp refining pilots, equipped with one single disk simple (12’’), double - disk (22’’) and conic, 2 or  50 kg capacity.
  • Fibre analysers:  MorFi, CyberFlex, CyberBond and CyberSize, Bauer McNett screener, Sommerville, CyberVision, optical microscope with colour video camera, fibre composition automatic software, SEM with X sensor.
  • Characterisation of the ultrastructure of fibre walls using immunocyto-chemical marking.
  • Manufacturing device for handsheets: Tappi, Rapid Köthen and dynamic.
  • Microfluidiser for micro- and nano-fibrills manufacturing.

 

CTP

Partnerships

A partnership was constituted in 2004 with CTP, the FCBA Technology Institute and Grenoble INP-Pagora, to consolidate our expertise in the field of fibres and paper pulps. The research programme is elaborated with the CNRS-CERMAV, which desire to integrate the InTechFibres partnership, with the filamentous fungi laboratory of INRA - UMR 1163, and with the Politecnico di Torino (Italy).

Centre Technique du Papier - The Pulp and Paper Research & Technical Centre
Domaine Universitaire - BP 251 - 38044 GRENOBLE - Cedex 9 - FRANCE - Tél. : (33) (0)4 76 15 40 15 - Fax : (33) (0)4 76 15 40 16