19 Jun Mineral/microfibrillated cellulose composite materials:
Recycled fibres, engineered minerals and new product forms
David Skuse, Tom Larson, Michel Schenker, Mark Windebank and Paymaan Tahamtan
PRESENTED BY:
David Skuse
VP Technology,
FiberLean Technologies Ltd.
Contents
- Introduction
- Mineral/microfibrillated cellulose composite materials
- Fibrils and fibres
- Minerals
- Mineral/ fibril composites
- Recycled fibre sources
- Applications
- Product forms
- Conclusions
Introduction:
Mineral/microfibrillated cellulose composite materials
- MFC: Utility for increased bonding in fibre-based structures, viscosification, re-inforcement……
- A cost effective grinding-based method for the production of mineral/ MFC composites from minerals and cellulose pulp
- Cellulose fibres are co-processed with mineral particles. The mineral particles act as micro-grinding media, thus, reducing the energy requirement
- The process can be accomplished using robust, industrially proven grinding equipment
- 10 000 dry metric tonnes pa of fibril capacity (40 000 dry metric tonnes of mineral/ MFC composite) installed and operational across three continents. Further capacity under construction
- FDA FCN for food contact paperboard
- Processsing and handling of mineral/ MFC composites are dominated by the high viscosity of MFC arising from presence of high surface area hydrophillic fibrils. Typical fibre solids is ~2%
Photograph (a) and micrograph (b) of mineral/ MFC composite showing the high viscosity and fibrillar structure
Fibrils and fibres
Structure performance relationships
PropertiesEngineered fibrils
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Fibre sources
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Minerals
Structure performance relationships
Properties
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Mineral sources
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Calcium carbonate: Ground and precipitated forms: High level of control over crystal morphs and dimensions | ![]() |
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Kaolin: Can be engineered for very high shape factor |
Mineral fibril composites
- There are a multitude of options available to the formulator
Recycle fibres
- Mineral/microfibrillated cellulose composite materials 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/microfibrillated cellulose composite materials
- Can control viscosity with choice of mineral shape factor.
- Low shape factor for high solids application
- High shape factor for high viscosity
Barrier
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Base | Base + MFC layer | Base + Coating | Base + MFC layer + Coating |
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 (~2% MFC fibre solids)
- Bottles and barrels, Transitanks, Trucks and ISO tanks, satellite plant
- Filter cake (~10-15% MFC fibre solids)
- Buckets, barrels, big bags
- High solids powder (~37% MFC solids/ 75% total solids), developmental
- Sacks, bags and bulk
Slurry
- Slurry (~2% MFC fibre solids)
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Bottles 10 liter (2.65 US Gallon) = 200 g (~8 oz) dry MFC Barrels 220 liter (60 US Gallon) = 4.4 kg (~10 lb) dry MFC Transitanks 1000 liter (265 US Gallon) = 20 kg (~44 lb) dry MFC Trucks/ ISO tanks 25 meter3 (6600 US Gallon) = 500 kg (~1100 lb) dry MFCLargest shipments to date 80 Transitanks = 1600 kg (~3500 lb) dry MFC 7 Trucks = 3500 kg (~7700 lb) dry MFC |
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Filter cake
- Filter cake (~10-15% MFC fibre solids)
- 50% OCC/ 50% Kaolin
- Filter cake
- Bag weight ~ 1000 kg (~2200 lb) = 150 kg (~330 lb) dry MFC
- Largest shipments to date
- 292 bags = ~44 tonnes (~48 short tons) of dry MFC
- 50% NBSK/ 50% GCC
High solids powder
50% NBSK/ 50% GCC, 75% solids
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 selction 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