Using a Level-Set Model to Estimate Dwell Time in a Vacuum Dewatering Process for Paper

K. Rezk[1]
[1]Department of Energy, Environmental and Building Technology, Karlstad University, Kronoparken, Sweden
Published in 2012

Water removal during paper manufacturing is an intensive energy process. The dewatering process generally consists of four stages in which the first three stages, water is removed mechanically through vacuum pulses and pressing.The fourth stage involve thermal drying. The vacuum dewatering process has been considered in this work. A laminar level-set method has been applied in order to capture the air/water interface during the dewatering process. The modeling process considers paper with a basis weight of 20 g/m^2. A MATLAB®-code was used to generate randomly positioned fibers in a 2D-structure. Fifteen different structures were simulated in which water content and dewatering rate was compared. The aim of the model is to estimate a valid dwell time for a vacuum pulse.