
17 Sep Mineral/Microfibrillated cellulose composite materials:
Mineral/Microfibrillated cellulose composite materials: Engineered minerals and product forms
FiberLean Technologies Ltd
EUROMAT – 04th September 2019
David Skuse, Tom Larson, Michel Schenker, Mark Windebank, Yun Jin and Sean Ireland
Presented by:
Tom Larson
Technology Implementation Manager
Contents:
- Introduction
- Mineral/ microfibrillated cellulose composite materials
- Fibrils and fibres
- Minerals
- Recycled fibre sources
- Applications
- Product form
- Conclusions
Introduction:
Mineral/Microfibrillated cellulose composite materials
- MFC: High aspect ratio / surface area utility for increased hydrogen bonding in fibre-based structures, viscosification, reinforcement…
- Cost effective grinding-based method to produce mineral/microfibrillated cellulose composite materials from minerals and cellulose
- Cellulose fibres are co-processed with mineral particles. The mineral particles act as micro-grinding media, thus, reducing the energy requirement
- Process accomplished using robust, industrially proven grinding equipment
- Scalable
- Commercialised as FiberLean MFC®
- 10,000 dry metric tonnes pa of fibril capacity (40,000 dry metric tonnes of mineral/ MFC composite) operational across three continents. Further capacity under construction
- FDA FCN for food contact paperboard
- Processing and handling of mineral/ MFC composites are dominated by the high viscosity of MFC
Photograph (a) and micrograph (b) of mineral/ MFC composite showing the high viscosity and fibrillar structure
- Arises from presence of high surface area hydrophilic fibrils.
- Typical fibre solids is ~ 1-2%
Fibrils and fibres
- Structure performance relationships
Minerals
- Structure performance relationships
- There is a variety of sources.
- Each have their own unique properties and attributes that are utilized in a broad spectrum of applications…
- Within each source the forms can vary naturally and be engineered
- e.g. Calcium carbonate:
- Ground and precipitated forms:
- High level of control over crystal morphology and dimensions
- Ground and precipitated forms:
- e.g. Calcium carbonate:
- Kaolin: Can be engineered for very high shape factor
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Mineral/fibril composites
- There are a multitude of options available to the formulator…
- The selection of fibre and mineral type, as well as the ratio between them, is tailored for each application
Recycled Fibres
Mineral/ MFC composites prepared from mixed office waste and OCC
Tensile properties at ~ equivalent to/ better than virgin NBSK controls
![]() Mixed office waste feed |
![]() 50% OCC/50% kaolin mineral/MFC composite (right) and control with NBSK |
Applications:
Viscosity Modification
- 50% NBSK/ 50% mineral/ MFC composites
- Can control viscosity with choice of mineral shape factor.
- Low shape factor for high solids application
- High shape factor for high viscosity
Barrier
Electronics
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50% NBSK/ 50% graphite mineral/ MFC composite slurry and sheet | 20% NBSK/ 80% mineral/ MFC composite printed electronic substrate |
Product forms
- Slurry – Available supply via satellite plant built on-site
- Low solids: ~2% MFC fibre solids
- For trials: delivered in IBC tanks or road tanker
- Press cake – Available for trials, delivered in IBC bags
- Medium solids: between ~10-15% MFC fibre solids
- Pellets – Future supply via merchant plant (developmental)
- High solids: ~37.5% MFC fibre solids (75% total solids)
- Solids content depends on FiberLean® MFC product supplied
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Trials and Press Cake re-dispersion
Bottles (lab trials) 10 litre (2.65 US Gallon) = 200 g (~8 oz) dry MFC Barrels (pilot trials) 220 litre (60 US Gallon) = 4.4 kg (~10 lb) dry MFC IBC Tanks (pilot & full scale trials) 1000 litre (265 US Gallon) = 20 kg (~44 lb) dry MFC Trucks/ ISO tanks (full scale trials) 25 meter3 (6600 US Gallon) = 500 kg (~1100 lb) dry MFC |
IBC Bags (full scale trials) Bag weight ~ 1000 kg (~2200 lb) = 150 kg (~330 lb) dry MFC |
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Largest shipments to date supplied for trials: 80 Transitanks = 1600 kg (~3500 lb) dry MFC 7 Trucks = 3500 kg (~7700 lb) dry MFC |
Largest shipments to date supplied for trials: 292 bags = ~44 tonnes (~48 short tons) of dry MFC |
Re-dispersion from Press Cake to Slurry:
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Conclusions
- Mineral/ MFC composites are produced using a cost-effective, robust process and have proven full-scale availability.
- Mineral/ MFC composites can be produced using a wide range of minerals and pulps.
- Variations in the selection of pulp and mineral allow the formulator to select in favour of a wide range of properties.
- Recycled pulp streams can be used.
- We believe that mineral/ MFC composites are an important additive for a wide range of applications.
- These mineral/ MFC composite materials have been commercialised as FiberLean MFC®.
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