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Recycled fiber quality from a laboratory-scale blade separator/blender

Informally Refereed

Abstract

A simple and inexpensive fiber separator/blender was developed to generate useful secondary fibers from hydropulped waste paper. Processing wet hydropulped fiber resulted in a furnish with no change in average fiber length in three out of four types of recycled fibers tested. In all cases, the canadian standard freeness increased after processing compared to hydropulped-only fibers. Micrographs of the fibers obtained using an environmental scanning electron microscope indicate increased fiber flexibility and curl. Following fiber separation, the unit also doubles as a blender, permitting easy blending of fibers, liquid resins, and particulate matter such as thermoplastics, later used to manufacture composite panels.

Citation

Liang, Bei-Hong; Shaler, Stephen M.; Mott, Laurence; Groom, Leslie. 1994. Recycled fiber quality from a laboratory-scale blade separator/blender. Forest Products Journal, Vol. 44(7/8): 47-50
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/24257