Measurement of Starch Concentration in Paper Production
Writing and printing paper must be sized. This is done by adding a sizing agent to the raw material and additionally by also coating the paper surface in the paper machine during the production process. Starch is often used as such a sizing agent.
A manufacturer of corrugated and specialized papers was in search of a solution which allows the continuous measurement of the starch concentration during the surface sizing. The respective concentrations must be maintained exactly for the frequently changing products. Deviations lead to defective goods or even to process interruption due tearing of the continuously produced paper on the wire of the paper machine.
Continuous measurement of the starch concentration with the Inline Process Refractometer PIOX R has proven to be the best solution for this measuring task.
Up to now, starch concentrations have been checked regularly with handheld refractometers. During this process, the main challenge was to guarantee operational safety. However, the starch solution formed deposits very quickly on the measurement prism. With a conventional critical angle refractometer, this would have lead to a considerable drift in the measurement values.
The PIOX R Process Refractometer works with its patented transmitted light priciple and is thus considerably less sensitive to deposits on the prism. In addition, PIOX R simultaneously measures the degree of light absorption due to deposit formation. When a given limit value is reached, automatic rinsing of the prism can be activated.
Advantages
- Reliable and accurate continuous measurement of the starch concentration without drift of the measurement values
- Self-diagnosis of the Process Refractometer with automatic activation of the rinsing process
- Prevention of production downtime caused by continuous paper web tearing
- Constant product quality
- Prevention of defective batches
- Economic use of raw materials
