Class Book Issued March 7, 19V2. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOREST SERVICE. HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester. FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY SERIES. APER PULPS FROM VARIOUS FOREST WOODS. EXPERIMENTAL DATA AND SPECIMENS OF SODA AND SULPHITE PULPS. COMPILED BY HENEY E. SURFACE, Chemical Engineer in Forest Products. WASHINGTON: 1912. Issued March 7, 1912. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOREST SERVICE. HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester. FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY SERIES. ■^ J J PAPER PULPS FROM VARIOUS FOREST WOODS. EXPERIMENTAL DATA AND SPECIMENS OF SODA AND SULPHITE PULPS. COMPILED BY HENRY Ef SURFACE, Chemical Engineer in Forest Products. WASHINGTON: 1912. 0. OF D. FEB ^; ■ ■j914 5 0^ o f h ± ^ ^v» •c^ V ^ """>- K . \ ^ \ K LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. U. S. Depaetment of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, B.C., December Jf., 1911. Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manu- script entitled ^' Paper Pulps from Various Forest Woods, ^' compiled by Henry E. Surface, chemical engineer in forest products, and to recommend its publication. Respectfully, Henry S. Graves, Forester. Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture. ■ ' (3) ^ CONTENTS. ■ Page. Purpose of the experiments 7 Preparation of the pulps 8 Raw materials tested 10 Experimental data 11 Index to pulp specimens 28 (5) PAPER PULPS FROM VARIOUS FOREST WOODS. PURPOSE OF THE EXPERIMENTS. The purpose of this report is to show specimens of paper pulps made from a number of different woods, and to give the experimental data connected with tiieir production. These specimens will indicate the possi- bilities for pulp of certain woods, of which some have been used commercially to a slight extent, and others not at all. The results are presented for the considera- tion of the paper trades and those interested in the pulp and paper industries. It is not within the scope of this report to recommend for general commercial use any given wood or woods; further investigation is required before their avail- ability and suitability for pulp making can be shown definitely. The report does show, however, the yields, qualities, and general characters of the pulps, and the cooking conditions used to obtain these results. While they are not sufficiently complete for final conclusions, they mark an important step, and even without further experimentation it is assured that a number of the woods can be used advantageously in commercial practice, under suitable conditions; (7) 8 PAPER PULPS FROM FOREST WOODS. The tests on which this pubhcation is based were made at the following pulp and paper laboratories of the Forest Service: South Boston, Mass., Pulp Laboratory, 1906-7, Dr. H. S. Bristol, in charge; Washington Labo- ratory, 1907-1909, Mr. E. Sutermeister, in charge of pulp investigations; and the Forest Products Labora- tory (in cooperation with the University of Wiscon- sin), Madison, Wis., 1910-11, Mr. H. E. Surface, in charge of the section of pulp and paper. Some of the pulps in question were made at each of the laboratories mentioned. Their final collection and running into sheets, however, was made at the Forest Products Laboratory. PREPARATION OF THE PULPS. The various woods were received in the form of logs, which were barked and cut into chips. These chips were then cooked with live steam in 65-gallon digesters, using caustic soda solutions and calcium and magnesium bisulphite solutions as cooking liquors for the soda and sulphite '^ cooks,'' respectively. After any given wood was cooked into a pulp the digester containing it was '^ blown'' and the pulp was washed with water in a blow pit. The washed pulp was then screened by means of a flat-plate diaphragm screen. The un- bleached pulps from which the natural color specimens were obtained were then passed through a diaphragm ^'machine screen" having 0.009-inch slots, and run out on a 16-inch Fourdrinier paper machine into continuous PAPER PUIiPS FROM FOREST WOODS. 9 sheets 10 inches wide. The unbleached pulps from which the bleached specimens were obtained were treated with bleaching pov^^der solutions in a 25-pound Emerson beating engine, after which they were screened and run out on the paper machine as with the natural color pulps. No additional fibers, fillers, or coloring mate- rials were added to any of the pulps, which represent only the natural fibers from the various woods. It may be noted that some of the pulps contain numerous dirt specks. These are not derived from the woods used, but are due to unavoidable defects in the small-size apparatus employed. In commercial work using the same woods and cooking treatments, these would be eliminated. For this reason they should not be considered as detrimental to the quality of the pulps. The color of the bleached pulps is also in some cases much poorer than would be the case if the water used in making up the bleached pulp sheets had been of better quality. This is another factor that could not be eliminated under the conditions existing at the time of making the runs. Another feature, which properly should be mentioned, is that the specimens were in general made up from a mixture of pulps from several different cooks of the same species of wood. This was necessary because the quantity of pulp from one cook was in several instances insufficient for making a speci- men in the amount required. Pulps from poorer cooks, therefore, had to be mixed with pulps from better ones, and this resulted in specimens which are not ade- 10 PAPER PUI.PS FROM FOREST WOODS. quately representative of the best pulps which could be obtained. KAW MATERIALS TESTED. Table 1 shows the raw materials used in the tests and the localities from which they were obtained. The shipment number, originally used as a mark of identifica- tion, is here used for reference to Tables 2 and 3, which contain the records of the experimental treatments. Table 1. — Species used in the experiments, and their sources. Common name. Botanical name. Ship- ment No. Where grown. Aspen Populus tremuloides, Michx. . Taxodium distiehumx, Rich . . Fagus atropunicea, Sudw Nyssa aquatica, Linn do L-19 S-3 S-7 S-2 S-4 S-498 S-502 S-39 S-8 S-36 L-26B L-105 S-33 S-5 L-2 S-32 S-469 S-499 '■■■ isconsin Bald cypress IvOuisiana. Beech Pennsylvania. Louisiana. Alabama. Cotton gum. Do Douglas fir Pseudotsuga taxifolia, Britt . . Picea engelmanni, Engelm . . . Abies grandis, Lindl Oregon. Engelmann spruce. . . Grand fir Colorado. W ashington. Hemlock Incense cedar Jack pine Tsuga canadensis, Carr Libocedrus decurrens, Torr . . . Pinus divarieata, Da Mont de Cours. do Pennsylvania. California. Wisconsin. Do Do. Loblolly pine Pinus tseda, Linn South Carolina Do do Virginia. Louisiana Do ..do.... Lodgepole pine Do Pinus contorta murrayana, Sudw. do "Wyoming. Do. Do do Mnnta.na. Longleaf pine Pinus palustris, Mill L-3 Mississi-nni. Red alder Alnus oregona, Nut S-524. S-14 S-11 S-19 S-2Q S-21 S-18 L-26E S-16 S-38 S-35 S-37 Oregon. Maryland. New Hampshire. Maryland. Red maple Acer rubr^im, Linn Red spruce Picea rubens, Sarg Scrub pine Pinus virginiana, Mill do Do Do. Do do Virginia. Sycamore Platanus occidentalism Linn . . Larix laricina, Koch Maryland. 'v isconsin. Tamarack Tulip tree Liriodendron tulipifera, Linn . Tsuga heterophylla, Sarg Abies concolor, Parry Maryland, "vv ashington. California. Western hemlock 'V;' hite fir Do do Do. PAPER PULPS FROM FOREST WOODS. 11 EXPERIMENTAL DATA. Tables 2 and 3 show the cooking conditions used in the preparation of the several pulps and the results that were obtained by determinations of yields and qualities. With a few unimportant exceptions the data for the several cooks are comparable with one another. In examining these data it should be kept in mind that commercial practice was followed so far as possible, but the experimental conditions did not permit this in all features of the tests. The various headings in the tables may be explained as follows: CJii]) charge, hone-dry weight. — The quantity of the wood with which the digester is charged for each cook is calculated to the bone-dry-weight basis by means of a moisture sample. Water in chips. — The amount of water in the wood at the time the digester is charged is expressed in percentage of water, based on the calculated bone-dry weight of the chips. Concentrations of coolcing liguor at start of cooJc. — The concentrations of the various constituents of the cook- ing liquors are based on analyses of such liquors as charged into the digester. The sulphur dioxide (SO2) concentrations can be reduced to the ''sulphite-mill per cent basis" by dividing the number of grams per liter by 10. The ''combined SOg" represents the amount of sulphur dioxide theoretically combined with 12 PAPER PULPS FROM FOREST WOODS. the lime oxides in the cooking hquors to form the normal sulphites. The ^'free" or '^ available SO2" represents the amount of the sulphur dioxide in the cooking liquors which is not "combined SO2." The magnesium oxide (MgO) and calcium oxide (CaO) values are calculated from analyses of the limes used and from the "combined SO2" values. The total so- dium oxide (NaaO) is calculated from the concentra- tions of caustic soda (NaOH) and sodium carbonate (NagCOg) each reduced to the NagO basis. Causticity of cooking liquors at start of coolc. — The causticity represents the ratio, expressed as a percent- age, of the sodium oxide in the caustic soda, as such, to the total sodium oxide in the cooking liquors at the beginning of the cook. Quantity of cooking liquors per pound of chips. — The quantities of the various constituents are based on unit bone-dry weight of the chips charged and on the liquor charge at the beginning of the cook. The values for the "S'' (sulphur) items multiphed by 2 will give per- centages of "SOg.'^ Duration of cooking. — The total period begins with the turning on of steam into the digester and ends with the "blowing" of the cook. The period at zero gauge pressure occurs at the beginning of the cook and ends when the needle of the digester gauge leaves the zero point. The period at maximum gauge pressure occurs during the final stages of the cooking, when the digester pressure is held constant at a given maximum value by PAPER PULPS FROM FOREST WOODS. 13 means of a relief valve. If desired, the gauge pressures for the soda cooks may be converted directly to tempera- tures by means of pressure-temperature tables for satu- rated steam. The period below zero steam pressure is at the beginning of the cook, when the digester temperature is below 100° C. (212° F.). The period at maximum steam pressure (temperature) occurs during the final stages of cooking, when the temperature of the digester contents is held at a constant maximum. Temperatures have been converted into steam pressures by means of the pressure-temperature tables. Yields. — The proportion of yields, expressed as per- centages, are based on the bone-dry weights of the products indicated and the bone-dry weight of the chips. Screened pulp represents such pulp in the un- bleached state. Screenings represent the material re- moved by means of a diaphragm screen. Quality of pulps. — All percentages of quahty are based on the bone-dry weight of the screened unbleached pulps tested. Cellulose was determined by the Cross and Bevan method. 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