Hello there, Carolina Marion de Godoy! After four years in the Industrial Research School Resource Smart Processes, you are now in the final phase of your doctoral studies. When is it time to defend your thesis?
– I will defend my thesis on April 28, at 10.00. The defense takes place in auditorium HB3 at Chalmers and can be followed online. Link to Teams is available on Treesearch’s website.
What is your thesis about?
– My thesis investigates how lignin – a substance that acts as an adhesive between wood fibers – is removed in the production of kraft pulp. The focus is on how the structure of the wood affects the impregnation of chips and the rate of lignin removal.
Link to the thesis: Kraft pulping of hardwoods: Investigating the impact of wood microstructure on impregnation and delignification rate
Why are your results important – for industry, research or society at large?
– My results help us to better understand the sulphate process – how wood is converted into pulp. For example, I compared how different hardwoods react during cooking, including species that have not been studied much before, such as alder and aspen.
By showing what happens inside the chips, and how the lignin disappears over time, the results can be used to develop more accurate models of the process. This in turn can help optimize the cooking process, use the raw material more efficiently and reduce energy and chemical consumption.
What has been most surprising or instructive?
– Carrying out tomography measurements at the MAX IV laboratory. It was very instructive to collaborate with other research groups and to gain insight into the entire process of synchrotron experiments – from application and planning to implementation.
What do you hope people will take away from reading your thesis?
– I hope that the thesis can be useful for those who want to immerse themselves in the sulfate process, and that the results clarify how important the impregnation of wood chips is and how different types of wood cells affect the cooking.
What will you do next?
– I hope to continue working in research, either in industry or in academia.
