Modelling the effect of eucalyptus genotypes in the pulping process with generalised additive models and fractional polynomial approaches
The advent of lean (waste reduction), six sigma (process variation minimisation) and proper raw material selection are the essential challenges to achieve the required quality on the overall industrial processes. Accordingly a laboratory experiment for the dissolving wood pulping process was conducted on nine Eucalyptus genotypes to measure the change in lignin, viscosity and α-cellulose at each of the six pulp processing stages. The changes to these properties were modelled using the Generalised Additive Models (GAM) and Fractional Polynomial (FP) models. These models proved to be equally important in their unique ways and produced complementary results. The results revealed that Emearnsii genotype produced the best results for both α-cellulose and viscosity, while Enitens genotype was selected for the optimal lignin reduction. Egrandis genotype is the only genotype that proved to have adverse effects on the viscosity property.