Controlling Crill, Coarseness and Freeness off Refiners Leads to Improved Strength 

Author: David Zerr, VP of R&D, Pulmac Systems

Event: TAPPICON 2022

What is new and exciting technology in refiner controls? Understanding that refiners can now be set up to have key fiber properties such as crill, coarseness, and freeness measured and then controlled to set points in refining. Crill is a by-product of refining and is a hundred times smaller in diameter than the fiber cell itself. Yet it plays an oversized role in determining finished product physicals.

Once these variables have been mapped to the lab data, the software can accurately predict up to 400 variables. This allows accurate modeling of finished product physicals off paper machines on tensile, tear, burst, Scott Bond, z-strength, STFI, freeness, bulk, density, dirt, and shive levels while in the pulp slurry.