Online measurement of floc size, viscosity, and consistency of cellulose microfibril suspensions with optical coherence tomography

Janne Lauri, Sanna Haavisto, Juha Salmela, Arttu Miettinen, Tapio Fabritius, Antti I. Koponen (Corresponding Author)

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)
77 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In this study, cellulose microfibril (CMF) suspensions were imaged during pipe flow at consistencies of 0.4%, 1.0%, and 1.6% with optical coherence tomography (OCT) to obtain images of the structure and the local velocity of the suspension. The viscosities obtained by combining pressure loss measurement with the OCT velocity data showed typical shear thinning behavior and were in excellent agreement with viscosities obtained with ultrasound velocity profiling. The structural OCT images were used to calculate the radial and the axial floc sizes of the suspension. A fit of power law to the geometrical floc size–shear stress data gave the same power law index for all consistencies, suggesting that floc rupture dynamics is independent of consistency. The dependence of viscosity and floc size on shear stress was similar, indicating that the shear thinning behavior of CMF suspensions is closely related to the rupture dynamics of flocs. The results also showed that an apparent attenuation coefficient of the OCT signal can be used to determine the consistency of CMF suspensions.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to) 3373-3387
JournalCellulose
Volume 28
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2021
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • cellulose microfibrils
  • CMF
  • rheology
  • viscosity
  • flocculation
  • floc size
  • consistency
  • optical coherence tomography
  • OCT

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