Measurement of the changes to the liquid transport properties of wood due to compression
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: McIntosh, Nicholas Joseph
issued: 2017-01-21T04:02:20
issued: 2016
related degree: Master of Applied Science - MASc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Compression of wood chips coupled with chemical treatment in a liquid bath has been shown to be an effective method to reduce the energy required to mechanically produce wood pulp. Though the utility of such compression/chip impregnation processes has become well known through implementation at pilot and mill scales, a fundamental understanding of the operational mechanism of these processes remains to be obtained. Towards this end, an experimental and statistical study has been conducted. In this work, better understanding the mechanism of action and measuring the effectiveness of a given compression/impregnation process has come about via developing two complementary methods to characterize arbitrarily compressed wood chips. The first method, applied to chips compressed at mill and pilot-scale, involves extracting a pore size distribution from a wood sample by use of a combination of microscope imaging, digital image analysis, and model fitting to the data obtained from image analysis. The second method, applied to wooden blocks compressed at lab-scale, involves directly measuring liquid uptake of a wooden block from a reservoir. Results from image analysis suggest that compression changes the structure of wood in a way which hinders liquid uptake. This observation, taken with existing heuristic relationships between compression and liquid uptake ability of wood chips, implies that the effectiveness of a wood chip compression/impregnation process relies on the alteration of chip properties on a length scale larger than that captured by the image analysis (i.e., that of individual fibres). Direct measurement of liquid uptake of compressed wood blocks at lab-scale resulted in the emergence of a stochastic relationship between compression conditions (compression rate and total strain applied to a block) and the changes imparted to wood’s micro-structure. Taken in combination, the results of the experimental program conducted suggest that the effectiveness of wood chi…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/60148
note: Measurement of the Changes to the LiquidTransport Properties of Wood Due toCompressionbyNicholas Joseph McIntoshB.Sc. Chemical Engineering, University of Calgary, 2013A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OFTHE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OFMASTER OF APPLIED SCIENCEinThe Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies(Chemical and Biological Engineering)the university of british columbia(Vancouver)December, 2016© Nicholas Joseph McIntosh 2016AbstractCompression of wood chips coupled with chemical treatment in a liquid bath has beenshown to be an eective method to reduce the energy required to mechanically producewood pulp. Though the utility of such compression/chip impregnation processes hasbecome well known through implementation at pilot and mill scales, a fundamentalunderstanding of the operational mechanism of these processes remains to be obtained.Towards this end, an experimental and statistical study has been conducted.In this work, better understanding the mechanism of action and measuring theeectiveness of a given compression/impregnation process has come about via de-veloping two complementary methods to characterize arbitrarily compressed woodchips. The first method, applied to chips compressed at mill and pilot-scale, involvesextracting a pore size distribution from a wood sample by use of a combination ofmicroscope imaging, digital image analysis, and model fitting to the data obtained fromimage analysis. The second method, applied to wooden blocks compressed at lab-scale,involves directly measuring liquid uptake of a wooden block from a reservoir.Results from image analysis suggest that compression changes the structure ofwood in a way which hinders liquid uptake. This observation, taken with existingheuristic relationships between compression and liquid uptake ability of wood chips,implies that the eectiveness of a wood chip compression/impregnation process relieson the alteration of chip properties on a length scale larger than that captured by the…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2016-02
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0340498
language: eng
degree discipline: Chemical and Biological Engineering
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/60148