Will thermal dispersion units separate the stickies?
Q: I am working in a paper mill. My co-worker wants to know about thermal dispersion units and how he can use it there to separate stickies from wood. A: This is a rather difficult problem that has been made worse by the use of recycled fiber stock. The “stickies” are usually resins or other organic materials that agglomerate to form small holes in the final product or coat the equipment, resulting in excessive downtime or poor product quality. The thermal dispersion units attempt to limit the problem by keeping these organics from agglomerating. Normally, a surfactant is used to prevent the agglomeration, but this may alter the product properties. I’m only familiar with one type of thermal dispersion unit and it uses an electrically heated wire that is placed just after the sheet forming device. The floating pulp is consolidated by a series of wires and the extra heat prevents the organics from coming out of solution as the sheet dries. This only works for small amounts of organics. I
