Equipment List
| Chemical Reactor Systems | ||
|---|---|---|
| Reactor | Make/Model | Use |
| 2500-L High Pressure Reactor | Herty Proprietary Reactor System | Large-scale chemical digester and reaction vessel. Perfect process validation. Option for recirculation of liquors and steam explosion direct discharge. |
| 500-L High Pressure Reactor | Herty Proprietary Reactor System (All Hastelloy® Wetted Parts) |
A versatile high temperature reactor system, capable of high pressure and full vacuum conditions. Direct reactant injection and direct sampling. Used to produce nanomaterials, pulp bleaching, masterbatch preparation. Ideal for process validation and small-scale production. |
| 25-L High Pressure Reactors | Herty Proprietary Reactor Systems | High pressure vertical reactor systems with the option of steam explosion direct discharge. |
| 7-L High Pressure Reactor | Parr Model 4580 (All Hastelloy® wetted parts) |
A versatile reactor system that can operate up to 300°C and 20.7 MPa (3000 psi) under varied reactions environment including low pH. |
| 5-L Bioreactor | BioFlo/Celligen 115 | A versatile fermentor/bioreactor used for batch, fed batch or continuous culture with process control for pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), agitation, temperature, pump feed, antifoam and foam/level. |
| Polymer Processing | ||
|---|---|---|
| Equipment | Make/Model | Use |
| Extruder | PMI Americas | Preparation of polymer masterbatches and composite testing. |
| Injection Molder | Mini-Jector Model 55 | Preparation of “dumbell” or “dogbone” shaped specimens for composite testing and analysis. |
| Ancillary Processing Equipment | ||
|---|---|---|
| Equipment | Make/Model | Use |
| Attrition Mill | Herty Proprietary | Lab scale grinding of both wet and dry samples. |
| Calendering | Perkins Hot-Soft Calender – Roll Temperature: 288°C (550°F) – Line Load: 350 kN/m (2000 pli) – Width: 0.9 m (36”) – Line Speed: 61 m/min (200 fpm) |
Used to densify both paper and wet-laid roll stock. Imparts surface smoothness and uniformity. Can be used as a stand-alone unit operation or in-line with paper and wet-laid composite production. |
| Hammer Mill | Schutte-Buffalo Wet and Dry Hammermills | Enables wet and dry milling of biomass (wood and non-woods) to produce on-spec feedstocks. |
| Pulp Screening | – Somerville, Pulmac Lab Screens – Ahlstrom F-1 Pressurized (150 tpd) – KBC UV-100 Skid-mounted |
Range of pulp screening systems for pulp cleaning and fiber separation. Can be used to segregate fibers based on fiber length and morphology. |
| Pulpers | – Adirondack (12-L) – Rice Barton (13-L) – Hydrapulper (2,400-L) – Tornado (7,600-L) |
Used to take virgin or recovered fiber sources and creating papermaking stocks of uniform consistency and properties. Can be used for both natural and synthetic fiber types. |
| Refining Facilities | – Valley Beater and PFI Mill – Sprout Refiners (12″ and 36″) – Sunds JC-00 Conflo Refiner (12″) – Beloit DD 4000 (16″) |
Mechanical refining to homogenize suspensions. Used to enhance the specific surface of fibers and tailor the fiber length distribution for both sysnthetic and natural fibers. |
| Sieve Shaker | Tyler Ro-Tap Shaker | Quantifies particle size distributions between 75-1000 µm. |
| S-L Separation Systems | – Screw press (100 gpm) – Inclined press (100 gpm) – Lab-scale hydraulic press units – Lab scale centrifuges (1-L) |
Enables solid-liquid separation in both batch and semi-continuous processing. |
| Sonicator | QSonica Q500A | Used to disperse chemical systems and enhance homogeneity of suspensions. |
| Spray Dryer | Yamato GB-210 CE | Used to dry a range of suspensions. Can be used in the preparation of nanocellulose powders. |
| Physical Testing Instrumentation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Equipment | Make/Model | Use |
| AFM | Ntegra NT-MDT | Determine the transverse and axial elastic modulus properties of the nanocellulose particles and also to understand the particle size and shape of lignaceous carbon black and nanocellulose. |
| Brightness Testers | – Micro TB-1C – Brightmeter Micro S-5 |
Measures TAPPI brightness, opacity, color, and fluorescence. |
| Brookfield Viscosity | Brookfield DV1 | Measures viscosity, yield stress and torque. |
| DMA | TA Q800 | Temperature dependent mechanical properties of the nanocellulose and carbon black reinforced composites. |
| DSC | Perkin Elmer Jade | To quantify thermal behavior and phase transition of nanocellulose, carbon black and their composites. |
| Fiber Analyzer | OpTest FQA-360 | To measure size distribution of the fine fractions greater than >75µm. |
| Particle Size Analyzer | Zetasizer Nano ZS | Enables solid-liquid separation in both batch and semi-continuous processing. |
| Surface Area and Porosity Analyzer | Micromeritics Gemini ASAP 2020 | Determination of the external and specific surface area and porosity of the carbon black samples. |
| Tensile Tester | Instron | Measures stress-strain behavior of materials, as well as modulus of elasticity, yield strength and breaking length. |
| TGA | Perkin Elmer STA-6000 | To quantify thermal stability of nanocellulose, carbon black and their composites. |
| Thermal Analyzer | Perkin Elmer Simultaneous Thermal Analyzer (STA) 6000 | Measures simultaneous changed in weight change and heat flow from 15 °C – 1000 °C. |
| X-ray Diffractometer | Rigaku XtaLAB | For determination of crystallinity. |
| Instrumentation for Chemical Analysis | ||
|---|---|---|
| Equipment | Make/Model | Use |
| CHNS/O Analyzer | Perkin Elmer 2400 Series II | Rapid elemental analysis of biomass samples. |
| Elemental Analysis | Perkin Elmer Optima 2100 DV | Powerful ICP-OES system used for elemental analysis, including determination of trace metals, Cl, Br, and I. |
| FE-SEM | JEOL JSM-7600F | Material morphology visualization and structure analysis down to the nano-scale. |
| FT-IR | Agilent Cary 630 | Characterization of chemical composition and structure. |
| GC-MS | Shimadzu GCMS-QP2010S | Detailed characterization of the condensate obtained from the upstream torrefaction. |
| GPC | Shimadzu LC-20 AD | Determination of the molecular weight distribution and polydispersity index of lignin and cellulose fractions |
| HPLC | – Shimadzu LCMS-2020 Single Quad – PerkinElmer ICP-HPLC-MS |
Characterization of chemical composition. |
| ICP-MS | Perkin Elmer Optima 2100 DV | Determination of the content and location of silica in the lignaceous carbon fraction. |
| MALDI-ToF | Bruker Microflex | Rapid screening for molecular weight distribution. |
| NMR Spectrometer | Bruker 400 MHz | Characterization of chemical structure. |
| UV-VIS Spectrophotometer | Shimadzu UV-2401PC | For compositional analysis of the torrefied samples, cellulose and lignin fractions and characterization of the condensate. |
| Nonwoven / Papermaking Lines | ||
|---|---|---|
| Equipment | Make/Model | Use |
| PM1 | Herty Proprietary – Former Type: Fourdrinier with multi-ply forming (up to 3 layers) – Drying: Contact with IR option – In-line size press and calender – Grammage: 15-980 gsm – Width: 0.84 m (33″) |
Classic Fourdrinier design ideal for producing a range of paper and paper-type substrates made from natural and synthetic fibers, as well as pigments and chemical additives. Options for surface treatment and chemical addition available, including in-line calendering. |
| PM2 | Herty Proprietary – Former Type: Rotoformer – Drying: High Temperature Through-Air – Grammage: 12-650 gsm – Width: 0.71 m (28″) |
High dilution machine in combination with high temperature through-air drying is ideal for synthetic-based composites made from glass, carbon and ceramic short staple fibers. Options for multi-layer forming and off-machine calendering are available. |
| Wet Lab Analysis Instrumentation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | Make/Model | Use | Standard |
| Bauer McNett Classifier (4 Screens) |
Model No. 203A | Measures weight average length of fibers. | TAPPI T-233 |
| Canadian Standard Freeness Tester | Testing Machines | Measures the drainage rate of a fiber/water slurry. | TAPPI T-227 |
| Clark Classifier | Model No. 218-1 | Used to separate fibers in a suspension to measure fiber length. | TAPPI T-233 |
| Disintegrators | – L&W Code 260 – AMC T-100 – Noram G2-3 – TMI |
Used to disperse pulp and synthetic materials in water. | |
| Fiber Length Analyzer | OpTest FQA-360 and HiRes | Used to measure fiber morphology (fiber length and width) and other key fiber characteristics and fiber length distribution. | TAPPI T-271 |
| Handsheet Former | Noble & Wood Sheet Machine Series 203 |
A vacuum-assisted laboratory former used to produce 8″× 8″ handsheets. | |
| PFI Mill | Mark VI Model No. 550 | Used to enhance the specific surface of fibers and tailor the fiber length distribution for both synthetic and natural fibers. | |
| Pulmac Master Screen (4-, 6-, or 10-cut screens) |
Model No. MS-B1-115V | Screening, separation, classification, or quantitation of contaminants in fiber or wood pulp. | TAPPI T-274 |
| Shopper-Riegler Freeness Tester | Model 33-29-00 | Measures the drainage rate in a low-consistency fiber slurry. | ISO 5267/1 |
| Somerville Flat Screen (4-, 6-, or 10-cut screens) |
Type – K134 | A pulp screening unit used to measure shive content of pulps and in the separation of stickies and plastics from recycled fibers. | TAPPI T-275 |
| TAPPI Sheet Machine | Adirondack Machine | Used to prepare 6″ diameter TAPPI handsheets. | TAPPI T-205 |
| Valley Beater | Tech Lab Systems | Mechanical refiner used to homogenize fiber/water suspensions. Enhance the specific surface of fibers and tailors the fiber length distribution. Can be used for both synthetic and natural fibers. | |
| Conditioned Test Lab Analysis Instrumentation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | Make/Model | Use | Standard |
| Brightness Testers | – Color/Touch – Micro S-5 |
Measures diffuse and directional brightness, opacity, color, and fluorescence of paper and paper-like materials. | |
| Cobb Test Apparatus | Gurley Precision Instruments | Measures water absorbency of sized paper. | TAPPI T-441 |
| Crush Tester | L&W Model 248 | Measures the rigid beam crush strength of paperboard. | TAPPI T-882 |
| Elmendorf Tear Tester | Thwing-Albert Model 2600 | Measures tear resistance of paper. | TAPPI T-414 |
| Gurley Oil Tester | Model A39987 | Measures the inbibition of oil in paper and nonwovens and the total porosity of these materials. | |
| Hagerty Paper Smoothness Tester | Technidyne | Measures air leakage flow rate as an indirect measurement of surface roughness. | TAPPI T-538 |
| Hercules Size Tester | Model KA | Measures degree of sizing in paper and nonwovens. Used to assess water hold-out. | TAPPI T-530 |
| Medium Fluter | Model JKB | Generates flutes for crush testing. | |
| Micrometer | – L&W: 7.3 psi / 0.63 in2 – L&W: 25 psi / 0.25 in2 |
Measures thickness of paper, sheets, and nonwovens. | |
| MIT Fold tester | Testing Machinery Inc. (TMI) | Measures the folding endurance of paper and nonwovens. | TAPPI T-511 |
| Mullen Testers | Model C and Model J | Used to measure burst and internal bond strength of paper and paperboard as described in . | ASTM D774 TAPPI T-403, T-807 and T-810 |
| Precision Cutters | L&W | Used to prepare 15 mm, 25 mm, and 1/2 inch wide test strips. | |
| Scott Bond tester | Huygen Model B | Measures energy required to rapidly delaminate paper and paperboard. | TAPPI T-569 |
| Short Span Compression Tester | L&W Compressive Strength Tester STFI |
Measures the compressive strength of linerboard and fluting. | TAPPI T-826 |
| Smoothness Tester | Technidyne PROFILE/Plus™ Roughness & Porosity | Measures porosity and smoothness of paper, sheets, and nonwovens. | |
| Taber Stiffness Tester | Taber Industries Model 150-D | Measures the stiffness of paper, paperboard, sheets and nonwovens. | TAPPI T-489 |
| Tensile Testers | Instron | Measures stress-strain behavior of materials, including modulus of elasticity, breaking length and stretch. Can be used in either tensile or compression mode. The Finch wet strength device is available to determine the wet tensile strength of a sample. | TAPPI T-456 ISO 3781 ASTM D824 |
| Z-Directional Tensile | Dek-Tron Model 163D | Measures internal bond strength of paperboard and nonwovens. | TAPPI T-541 |
| Zero Span Wet & Dry Tester | Pulmac TS-100 | Measures the fiber strength in a sheet of paper. | TAPPI T-231 |
| Analytical Test Lab Analysis Instrumentation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | Make/Model | Use | Standard |
| Brookfield Viscometer | Brookfield Model RVT | Measures low-shear viscosity, yield stress and torque in liquid samples, mixtures and emulsions. | |
| CED Capillary Viscosity | PSL-Rheotek RPV-1 | Measures the viscosity of 0.5% cellulose solutions using 0.5M cupriethylenediamine solution. | TAPPI T-230 |
| Soxhlet Extractors | Herty Proprietary | Measures the amount of solvent-soluble, non-volatile material in wood, pulp, polymers and other materials. | |
| Zeta Potential | Mutek | Measures the amount of solvent-soluble, non-volatile material in wood, pulp, polymers and other materials. | |
Last updated: 3/22/2016