ISOLATION OF SCLEREIDS

A sclereid concentrator is an apparatus designed to concentrate sclereids found in pulp. The sclereid concentrator is based around a mini-hydrocyclone. When a slush pulp sample is passed through the mini-hydrocyclone, practically all the sclereids are removed by the reject port. The reject sample is then collected, screened and the sclereids are then manually counted or an image analysis system is used to automatically count the sclereids. This count, expressed on the basis of the original sample mass, gives an accurate measurement of the sclereid contamination level in the pulp. There is provided a sclereid concentrator device, a procedure to produce almost pure sclereids and a method to count sclereids manually or by image analysis.