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

• Kaolin: Can be engineered for very high shape factor

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

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

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
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: Rapid Installation/Pack-up Throughput Quality Safety

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^®.