Dow Corning to Open Recycled Fiber Lab

MIDLAND, Mich.—Dow Corning Corporation, a leading supplier of innovative silicone solutions for the pulp and paper industry, has announced the opening of its Recycled Fiber (RCF) Lab in Barry, Wales. Dedicated to innovative recycling technologies and products, the facility is expected to help processors meet tightening environmental regulations, contain costs, and improve product quality.

“In this lab setting, we can conduct very efficient initial testing on a wide range of potential product formulations, under varying conditions,” said John Francis, Dow Corning Pulp & Paper Application Engineer and RCF Technical Leader. “We can accurately simulate many different applications, such as newspapers and lower-grade writing papers, which are a primary market for recycled fiber.”

Development capabilities of the RCF Lab are enabled with laboratory-scale equipment that emulates production processes. “The pulping machine creates pulp slurry from recyclable materials and is then transferred to a 30-liter deinking flotation cell. Here the ink is detached from the fiber surface and, along with filler materials and other contaminants, is collected. The effect is that the ‘brightness’ of the paper is increased, and the cleaned fibers are separated from the reject stream,” Francis said. “Finally, with our paper former, we can create paper samples in sheet form to study properties such as brightness using the lab’s spectrophotometer,” he added.

In addition to opening the RCF Lab, Dow Corning will coordinate joint activities with the Centre Technique du Papier International (CTPi) with a focus on paper recycling. Dow Corning Paper & Process Industries European marketer Alexandre Krapivin will organize the activities between the two organizations.

“Dow Corning is committed to improving the pulp and paper industry,” Krapivin said. “Opening the RCF Lab and working with the CTPi are just the first steps Dow Corning is taking to ensure the industry is well educated on recycling and that it not only meets, but exceeds, environmental standards.”