The conference featured full day and one-half technical on April 12 and 13. The Gulf Coast and Southeast TAPPI regional officers joined forces on the program, including a tabletop show and dinner where both customers and suppliers were given an opportunity to network and discuss capability development on the intricacies of efficient and controllable black liquor operations.

Dr. Chris Luettgen, an associate director at RBI, welcomed the attendees and delivered an overview of the kraft recovery cycle.  This was followed by more detailed presentations on the unit operations from brown stock washing efficiency through smelt dissolving tank, and instrumentation used throughout. 

“TAPPI and Georgia Tech are focused on capability development of our industry’s engineers,” said Luettgen, who is also Professor of the Practice in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Tech. “It is vital that we bring current knowledge to our manufacturing facilities. This was a tremendous opportunity to bring excellent speakers to bear on that effort.” 

Fifteen experts in both academia and industry delivered technical presentations on topics ranging from corrosion and crystallization to evaporator monitoring and technology. 

Meetings such as this are critical not only for sharing best practices and discussing new opportunities, but also in ways to address challenges that are shared among peers and RBI serves as the perfect conduit for those discussions, Luettgen said.