Patent ID: 7294233

Claim:
A method for changing a characteristic of a material in a fiber stream, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a material having a characteristic associated therewith in a fiber stream; and (b) changing said characteristic by introducing an electrical discharge in the fiber stream; wherein the fiber stream is whitewater; wherein the step of changing said characteristic by introducing an electrical discharge in the fiber stream comprises the step of changing said characteristic by introducing pulsed electrical discharges in the fiber stream; wherein the electrical discharges occur in predetermined time periods, and include the discharge of a high voltage/high current store of energy; wherein the predetermined time periods range from about 5 microseconds to about 500 microseconds; wherein the high voltage is in the range of about 500 V to about 20,000 V; and wherein the high current is in the range of about 10,000 A to about 100,000 A.