In: Chemistry
In the manufacture of paper, logs are cut into small chips, which are stirred into an alkaline solution that dissolves several of the chemical constituents of wood but not cellulose. The slurry of undissolved chips in solution is further processed to recover most of the original solution constituents and dried wood pulp. In one such process, wood chips with a specific gravity of 0.64 containing 45 wt% water and 47 wt% (dry basis) cellulose are treated to produce 1400 tons/day of dry wood pulp containing 85 wt% cellulose.
a) draw and label a flowchart for the process
b) estimate the feed rate of logs (logs/min), assuming that the logs have an average diameter of 8 inches and an average length of 7 feet.