Ceramics in Paper Manufacturing
 
Ceramics in Paper Manufacturing including Advanced and Nano Materials
 
Author- Dr. Mahendra Patel, 400 pages; 32 chapters, ISBN No: 978-81-923542-4-8.
 
Use of ceramic materials in pulp and paper manufacturing has augmented enormously in the last two decades mainly because of their intrinsic abilities to combat the harsh environments. Advanced and nano ceramics, included in this book, are the new-generation innovative material to help enhancing energy saving, environmental benefits and material protection.
 
Some of the ceramic materials available now have strength as high as that of metals and the conventional metals and alloys are slowly being replaced by ceramics wherever possible. For example, the overall enhancement brought out in the paper machine, is essentially because of possibility of substitution of the ductile metallic parts by ceramics. The paper machine former, press and dryer are presently provided with special ceramic substances. The paper machinery manufacturers find now the ceramic parts and components to be the appropriate materials to address the harsh environments.

 

Materials based on ceramics find applications right from the raw material preparation to the finishing stages in paper manufacturing. The production process and developments of the three categories of ceramics; traditional, advanced and nano ceramics, are discussed in this book in length.

 

Subject of ceramics in paper manufacturing also encompasses the vital issue of recycling the solid wastes, generated from the mills to ceramic products. Pulp and paper mills generate considerable amount of solid waste products namely fibrous sludge, lime sludge, plastic wastes and coal ash.

 
 
The developments as well as case studies on production of common ceramic materials such as bricks, tiles and cement also form part of the books as these are subject of vital issues for the mills. One of the chapters is specifically devoted to the production of silicon carbide whiskers and other advanced ceramic materials using agro-residues.

 

This book provides valuable imperatives in commissioning of new plant and in selection of materials for machineries. While the maintenance and instrumentation engineers will be most benefitted on reading this book, it will help in bringing down the cost of maintenance and enhance the quality, productivity and efficiency of the mill, thus going to be very important for the papermakers also. Moreover, the techno-commercial information provided in this book on some of the products of the different machinery manufacturers are likely to help promoting their business and improvising their product profile. Among the ceramic products, alumina, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, sialon, zircon, ceramic composites and coatings as well as ceramic tiles, bricks, cement, glass and refractory with thermal spray coating and future of ceramics in pulp and paper manufacturing, make the book quite useful and interesting for both paper mills and machine manufacturers as well ceramics industries.
 
Foreword and Congratulation on the book:
Foreword
Dr J. Tirlocq, Scientific Advisor at the Belgian Ceramic Research Centre
BCRC (www.bcrc.be); 4, Avenue Gouverneur Cornez; 7000 – MONS, Belgium
I am very pleased to write the “Foreword” for the book, “Ceramics in Paper Manufacturing”, authored by Dr. Mahendra Patel. Ceramics are undoubtedly one ofthe materials of preference to be used in the construction and machineries in all the chemical industries including pulp and paper.
They are quite resistant to fire and to attacks due to acids and alkalis as these are made up of alumina, silica, alumino-silicates, etc and as they are vitrified bodies carrying suitable surface coverage as coating and glazes with zero absorption property.

In the last decades, special ceramics with better strength and other properties have been developed and are produced using highly sophisticated and advanced techniques, such as chemical vapour deposition and thermal spray coating.
Composite products of ceramic-metal, ceramic-glass, ceramic-ceramic and ceramic-polymers are the other recently developed high-performance products. Their properties have been improved to such an extent that they are slowly replacing metals and alloys in some of the machineries. There have been many such applications recently reported in the pulp and paper industries, which are reviewed in the book, authored by Dr. Mahendra Patel.

Apparently, there has not been so far any particular text book, bringing out all those materials together for pulp and paper manufacturing and therefore, Dr Patel’s book is a timely one, which will help developments in both paper and ceramics industries.

I had the pleasure of working with Dr Patel as he was (1985-1995) Member of the Editorial Board of our Belgian scientific journal “Silicates Industriels - Ceramics Science and Technology”. We published a paper together in this journal on the “SEM Studies on Alumina Fibre Formation through Plant Fibre Substrates”. His knowledge and experience in both ceramics and paper technology have rewarded him with accomplishment of this multidisciplinary book. I wish Dr Patel all the success for his book.
Félicitations
Mrs. (Dr) Denise delafosse, Ex-Director, Laboratoire des surfaces et des structures
Centre Nationale des Recherches Scientifiques (CNRS), Université’ de Pierre et Marie Curie (Tour 55- 56, 2eme étage), 4-Place Jussieu, Paris-Cedex 05, France
I congratulate Mahendra for having accomplished the book, “Ceramics in Paper Manufacturing”. He worked for his doctorate thesis in my laboratory under my supervision on the alumino-silicates, notably clay minerals and zeolite, using thermal and hydrogen treatment with extensive use of SEM, XRD etc. I am glad to find that this scientific foundation has resulted today in writing a book on ceramics including the alumino-silicates.
Because of the special properties of ceramic materials, notably chemical, abrasion and thermal resistance, these are extensively used in all chemical industries. The miraculous developments in the last two decades on some of the ceramics, have made ceramics competitive with even metals in terms of strength and cost, which have further boosted the applications of ceramics in industries.

Manufacturing of ceramic products requires not only highly elevated temperature (>1500 oC) but also highly advanced technologies such as Chemical vapour deposition (CVD), plasma and thermal sprays with highly researched coating and composite materials. Apart from the traditional alumino- silicates, alumina, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, sialon, zironia and many other advanced ceramic materials are now available. I find that this book has reviewed all these ceramics towards applications in the pulp and paper industries. While discussing the applications in different areas of pulp and paper manufacturing, the surface and structural aspects of the products have also been included.
Price: $ (USA) 220 + delivery charge; Price in India: Rs. 3500