This paper is a progress report on our work to create an open, flexible infrastructure to support virtual organisations through knowledge fusion technology. Knowledge fusion refers to the process of locating and extracting knowledge from multiple, heterogeneous on-line sources, and transforming it so that the union of the knowledge can be applied in problemsolving. When applied in enterprise-to...

Polyelectrolytes containing amine functional groups such as PAH (poly(allylamine hydrochloride)) can be useful, under certain conditions, for improving paper strength. In this work, the charge density of PAH was determined at different pH and ionic strengths; PAH adsorption onto the cellulosic fibers was characterized, and the effects of low PAH dosage on the papermaking properties were evaluat...

Xylan extracts from southern US hardwood were used for the adsorption of both hardwood and softwood pulp. Pulp beatability and physical strength properties were determined and compared with those of the conventional Kraft pulp and pre-extracted modified Kraft pulp. The results indicated that hemicelluloses adsorption greatly improved pulp beatability. Compared to conventional Kraft pulp, a sign...

Environmental regulations coupled to market pressures have forced the pulp and paper industry to explore alternatives to chlorine based bleaching practices for the production of bleached kraft pulp.Various technologies and bleaching chemicals have been suggested as answers to kraft pulp bleaching concerns, from which oxygen, ozone and peroxides are the leading candidates for chlorine replacemen...

BACKGROUND Despite decades of work and billions of dollars of investments in laboratory and pilot plant projects, commercial production of cellulosic ethanol is only now beginning to emerge. Because of: (1)high technical risk coupled with; (2) high capital investment cost relative to ethanol product value, investors have not been able to justify moving forward with large scale projects on woody...

Juniper (Juniperus communis) is a slowly growing softwood species that has unusually high elasticity. To demonstrate the utilization of the material properties of juniper, conventional kraft pulping was used to prepare juniper pulp, whose handsheet and fiber properties were subsequently analyzed. A large number of uncooked fiber bundles remained after pulping, the screened yield was low, and ka...