US-20260125851-A1 - PROCESS AND FIBRE PROCESSING APPARATUS FOR THE PREPARATION OF A PULP ADDITIVE FROM A SUGAR BEET STARTING MATERIAL

US20260125851A1US 20260125851 A1US20260125851 A1US 20260125851A1US-20260125851-A1

Abstract

Inventors

Wolfgang Wach
Stefan Frenzel
Richard Dandar
Richard Scott Hurding
René Robin

Assignees

Sutdzucker AG
ZELFO TECHNOLOGY GMBH
SIMPLY BY NATURE GMBH

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20230926
Priority Date: 20220927

Claims (20)

1 . A process for the production of a pulp additive from a sugar beet starting material said process comprising the steps of: a) providing a sugar beet starting material, b) feeding the starting material into the fibre processing apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 19 so as to obtain a precursor, c) extruding the precursor in the fibre processing apparatus to obtain the pulp additive and d) exiting the pulp additive from the outlet.
2 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the sugar beet starting material has a dry matter content from 20 to 95 wt-% (based on overall weight of the material).
3 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the precursor obtained in step b) by feeding the starting material into the fibre processing apparatus has a dry matter content of 20 to 65 wt.-% (based on the overall weight of the precursor).
4 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the sugar beet starting material provided in step a) is a dried sugar beet pulp, pressed sugar beet pulp, or sugar beet pulp silage.
5 . The process of claim 1 , wherein in step a) additionally a further cellulose-containing starting material is provided and fed in step b) into the fibre processing apparatus, so as to provide a precursor comprising a mixture of the starting materials with a dry matter content from 20 to 65 wt.-% (based on overall weight of the precursor).
6 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the fibre processing apparatus comprises a twin-screw processor and wherein the shafts are operating in a co-rotating mode.
7 . A fibre processing apparatus for the preparation of a pulp additive from a sugar beet starting material said apparatus comprising: at least one housing comprising at least one inlet configured to allow the feeding of the starting material, an outlet downstream of the inlet configured to allow the exit of the pulp additive, and at least one screw processor including at least one rotatable extruder shaft, preferably two extruder shafts, which screw processor is provided within the housing and provided to extend along the flow path of the starting material from the at least one inlet to the outlet, wherein the at least one extruder shaft, preferably the two shafts, comprises along its longitudinal axis at least two different processing sections including a fibre modification section and a fibre transport section, wherein the fibre transport section comprises at least one flow control element, wherein the fibre modification section comprises at least one refining element comprising a forward surface, a rearward surface and a peripheral surface, and wherein at least one of the forward surface, the rearward surface and the peripheral surface is at least partially textured.
8 . The fibre processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one extruder shaft comprises at least one pressure neutralised fibre modification section.
9 . The fibre processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one extruder shaft additionally comprises at least one forward fibre modification section and/or at least one reverse fibre modification section.
10 . The fibre processing apparatus according to claim 7 , comprising at least one bearing element between the at least one fibre modification section and the at least one fibre transport section.
11 . The fibre processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one fibre modification section comprises at least one grouping of refining elements.
12 . The fibre processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one shaft comprises at least two groupings of refining elements being arranged rotationally inline, preferably wherein the groupings are arranged abutting and offset to each other.
13 . The processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the screw processor is a twin-screw processor, preferably wherein at least one refining element provided on a first shaft is arranged to intermesh and/or engage a complementary refining element provided on a second shaft of the screw processor.
14 . The fibre processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the refining elements are mono-lobal, bi-lobal or tri-lobal elements or a combination thereof.
15 . The fibre processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein at least one of the refining elements, preferably all of the refining elements, is/are texturized on the forward surface, the rearward surface and the peripheral surface.
16 . The fibre processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein at least one surface of at least one refining element comprises a texturing selected from the group consisting of serrated, stepped, ridged, ribbed, toothed, grooved, pinned, spotted, pimpled and spiked formations and any combination thereof.
17 . The fibre processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the peripheral surface of at least one of the refining elements comprises alternating peaks and troughs and/or wherein the peripheral surface is shaped so that the circumference of the elements follows the path of a substantially circular sine wave.
18 . The fibre processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one of the refining elements is a blade-type element, in particular its circumference being shaped so that the circumference of the elements follows the path of a substantially circular sine wave.
19 . The fibre processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one refining element comprises a recess in its forward and/or rearward surface configured to receive a separator ring.
20 . A pulp additive obtainable by a process according to claim 1 .

Description

The invention pertains to a process for the production of a pulp additive from a sugar beet starting material, a fibre processing apparatus being suitable for said process, in particular for the preparation of a pulp additive from a sugar beet starting material, and in particular for the defibrillation and/or defibering of cellulose fibres in the sugar beet starting material as well as to a pulp additive obtainable from said process and a packaging material comprising said pulp additive. The progressing endeavour to substitute mineral oil-based materials, in particular plastics, by renewable alternatives requires the development and improvement of new alternative plant-based raw materials and methods for their production. Of particular interest in this regard are plant-based raw materials which can be produced from industrial by-products and waste materials and which can subsequently be used for the preparation of value-added products. Such new raw materials are ideally not only suitable to equivalently substitute existing materials but also to provide particular advantages with respect to their target application. One of such raw materials are cellulose microfibres (CMF) and cellulose nanofibres (CNF) which are obtained by defibrillation of cellulose fibres from plant-based materials. The main applications of cellulose fibres are the paper industry, the clothing industry, the biomedical field, and the preparation of engineered materials. The conversion of compositions comprising cellulose fibres into compositions comprising defibrillated cellulose fibres for paper making purposes is known. Processes for opening, beating or defibrillating pulp fibres to obtain fibrillation, increased surface area, increased accessibility and fine particle size have long been known. Ball mills are used for preparing cellulose of several tens of microns in dimension. Studies have indicated that such ball milling breaks the chemical bonds of the cellulose during the dividing process. It is also known to grind cellulose in water under pressure to produce a micro-cellulose with a particle size of less than one micron. In the case of cellulose derivatives, cold milling of the derivatives in liquid nitrogen is also disclosed in the prior art. Sonic pulverization with a ball mill is also a known method of producing cellulose in extremely fine particle size. Finely divided celluloses are also produced in the traditional processes used in manufacturing fibreboard and paper pulp. Normally, however, these traditional processes involve the use of additional chemical treatment to cellulose pulps, as for example, acid hydrolysis, which chemically alter or degrade the prepared cellulose pulps. In the paper industry, it is known that paper strengths are directly related to the amount of beating or refining which the fibres receive prior to formation. However, beating and refining as practiced in the paper industry are relatively inefficient processes and large amounts of energy are expended to gain relatively minor amounts of fibre opening and fibrillation. Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) is an agricultural crop whose root contains high levels of sucrose and is used as a major source of sugar in temperate zones. For the production of sugar from the sugar beet roots, the roots are initially cleaned to remove soil and debris and subsequently mechanically sliced into small pieces called cossettes. The cossettes are usually desugared at elevated temperature in a continuous counter-current extraction process using water. The extracted raw juice comprising about 15% sugar and further natural components of the sugar beet is then subjected to purification, concentration and crystallization to finally yield sucrose. The desugared cossettes (sugar beet pulp) obtained as a by-product of beet sugar production are typically used as domestic livestock feed or for biogas production. The sugar beet pulp may be pressed to remove excess water so as to achieve a dry matter content of about 20 to 28%. It may, conventionally after pressing, also be dried and then pressed into pellets. Dried sugar beet pulp is easy to store and transport and may be grinded or mixed with other components. These products are mainly used for feeding of ruminants. It is also known to mix the desugared beet pulp with sugar beet molasses, in particular before drying. Such process increases the sucrose content of the sugar beet pulp and thus its nutritional value. Sugar beet pulp comprises a high proportion of fibre consisting of roughly about one third cellulose, about one third pectin and about one third hemicellulose and is therefore also a promising industrial by-product for the production of cellulose fibres, which are used as a renewable raw material, for instance in the texile and paper industry. From EP 0 644 293 A1 it is known to use sugar beet pulp, optionally in mixture with white recycled paper, for the production of paper. The sugar beet pulp used has been ground in a hammer mi