Research too important to do alone.

Understanding press section rewet and intra-web transport

• Develop general mathematical model describing water flow rate and direction in complex 3-D porous media
• Conduct experiments to isolate and quantify sources of re-wet
• Develop mathematical model including intra-nip modeling supported by sensor data to measure in-sheet moisture

Felt materials, felt/fabric/roll design

• Develop "adaptive" felt materials or structures with high permeability at high nip-loads and low permeability at low loads
• Identify or develop membrane supporting unidirectional or preferential water flow away from fiber web

Facilitating water release

• Develop options to shift or decouple strength/water retention relationship including alternative fiber surface treatments
• Investigate covalent bonding strength additives to reduce refining needs
• Investigate alternate chemical strategies to increase hydrogen bond sites without mechanical action and/or block fiber water absorption
• Develop understanding of relationship between fines fraction and water retention
• Investigate methods for increasing filler content and binding bonding material to bulking agent surfaces

Technologies to overcome these barriers to membrane separation:

• Optimal separations of water, ions, and organics
• Robust membrane materials to withstand high temperature, high pH environments
• Advanced high-flux membrane systems
• Membrane fouling impacting system availability
• Process optimization and integration with existing pulp mill systems

Pulp and paper R&D needs around energy efficiency, industrial electrification, low-carbon fuels, feedstocks and energy sources, and carbon capture.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Industrial Efficiency & Decarbonization Office (IEDO) held a workshop on Decarbonization Challenges and Priorities in Forest Products Industry.

Work that addresses these research gaps:

• Factors that impact field performance of packaging
• Development of more accurate and precise physical tests
• A greater understanding of the impact of environmental factors on box performance
• More comprehensive predictive models

Break the bleachable-yield barrier

• Develop a cost-effective bleach sequence for higher Kappa pulping processes with similar or better loadings to the waste treatment plant compared to current bleach processes
• Develop non-chlorine-based lignin activators to improve O2 delignification selectivity

Discover new, practical catalysts for pulping, oxygen delignification, and bleaching

• Complete a computational chemistry study to screen categories of potential catalyst
• Identify higher-performing catalysts for strength, yield, and selectivity improvement

Wood pretreatment chemistries to activate reactive sites in the lignin matrix

• Develop a chip activation method to facilitate pulping selectivity
• Explore oxidative alkaline pretreatments to remove a portion of hemicelluloses while activating lignin to subsequent kraft cooking conditions

Paper machine whitewater reuse

• Develop cost-effective, operationally reliable technologies for the removal of suspended solids, especially in the 10-40 micron range
• Develop cost-effective technologies for the control or removal of dissolved colloidal substances
• Develop technology to effectively remove inorganic constituents (total dissolved solids and calcium) that cause scaling issues

Reuse of biologically treated effluents

• Determine a process for cost-effective reuse of biologically treated effluent in bleach plant applications
• Demonstrate the compatibility of treated effluents from five broad categories of mills with various process applications within these mills

Research to enable application

• Determine composite systems, resins that will work with cellulose nanomaterials, conventional polymers and/or biodegradable varieties
• Develop other strategies for using nanocellulose in composite materials

Dewatering and drying

• Develop an economically viable dewatering and drying method that allows for re-dispersion

Characterization and testing

• Develop the ability to measure and characterize particle morphology and particle size
• Development of rapid, low-cost measurement methods for control