Refining to a desirable freeness

A process to produce a composition obtained by combining and co-refining staple fiber and cellulose fiber in a refiner to produce said composition;

• wherein said staple fiber comprises cellulose ester (CE);
• wherein the Canadian standard freeness of said composition ranges from 200 to 700;
• wherein said CE staple fibers have a denier per filament (DPF) at least 1.8 to 3;
• wherein said CE staple fibers comprises cellulose acetate and are present in an amount from about 4 wt % to less than 16 wt % based on the weight of CE staple fibers and said cellulose fibers;
• and wherein said CE staple fibers have:
• i) a cut length of 3 mm to less than 6 mm,
• ii) crimping,
• iii) the CE staple fibers are non-round,
• iv) the weight of fibers in said composition is more than 50 wt. % based on the weight of all solids in said composition, and
• v) no plasticizer is added to the composition;
• and wherein said cellulose ester staple fibers are crimped and have an average of 5 crimps per inch (CPI) or more.