Importance of Cellulosic Fines Relative to the Dewatering Rates of Fiber Suspensions

When cellulosic fines are present in significant amounts, they can have a dominant influence on dewatering. Pulp suspensions drain rapidly if the fines have been removed. In this study, the dependency of gravity dewatering rates on the level and properties of cellulosic fine matter was quantified. Bleached hardwood kraft pulp was used as a source of primary fines (collected before refining) and secondary fines (collected after refining of fines-free fiber suspensions). Fractions of fine matter also were obtained from chemithermomechanical (CTMP) pulp. Size distributions of these fines were characterized using a laser diffraction method. Results were explainable by a mechanism in which unattached fines are able to move relative to adjacent fibers during the dewatering and consolidation of a mat of fibers. Due to such movement, fines end up in locations where they plug drainage channels in the mat. The contribution of the fines to dewatering increased in inverse proportion to particle size and with increasing surface area, as calculated from the light scattering analysis.