Dissolution of ionisable groups and lignocellulosic components during low-temperature kraft pulping of pinus radiata

A wide range of kraft pulps from radiata pine produced by low-temperature kraft pulping in flow-through reactors was assessed for carboxyl and hexenuronic acid (HexA) contents using the conductometric titrations and UV spectrophotometer, respectively. The Kappa number of pulps varied from 20.8 to 84.7 when using a cooking liquor of 1 M effective alkali as Na₂O, 25% sulfidity, and cooking time of 100–250 min. The experimental results showed that the carboxyl groups (including HexA) and HexA groups dissolved and their residual values in the pulp samples correlate linearly with Kappa number and pulp yield. The dissolving rate of all carboxyl groups is much faster than the loss of HexA. The HexA/lignin ratio decreased non-linearly with Kappa number.     

Scanning probe microscopy and enhanced data analysis on lignin and elemental-chlorine-free or oxygen-delignified pine kraft pulp

Fibres from conventional pine kraft pulp (KP), oxygen-delignified KP (KPO) and elemental-chlorine-free (ECF) bleached KP were characterized by scanning probe microscopy (SPM). The surface morphology of lignin isolated from the respective pine KP was studied. The data analysis of the phase-shift data measured by using different tapping mode imaging parameters enabled the study of both the surface amphiphility and stiffness as a function of delignification. The average phase-shift values were observed to correlate to the respective kappa values, when imaging with small tapping amplitude (30 nm), referred to the capability of SPM to follow local amphipilic (adhesion) differences on a wood fibre surface. The roughness (standard deviation) of the average phase-shift values was taken as a measure of the sample homogeneity. The mean morphological roughness was observed to increase with decreasing bulk lignin concentration. The surface of lignin appeared mainly granular but occasionally some linear structures were observed. The surface roughness of different fractions of flow-through residual lignin samples correlated quite well to the molar mass of the respective fraction. Each grain contained hundreds of lignin molecules. Most of the lignin samples were homogeneous as regards friction and phase-contrast images. The surface of the nondelignified pine KP was typically granular. ECF delignification was more effective than oxygen delignification in removing this granular phase. The decrease in the relative amount of the granular phase correlated to a decreasing kappa value of the pulp. The granular phase is thus suggested to correspond to lignin, but it cannot be ruled out that small amounts of hemicellulose, extractives or a mixture of these components are embedded in this phase. The surface concentration of the granular phase of the KPO samples was, according to the phase-contrast images, clearly higher than the bulk lignin concentration, as indicated by the corresponding kappa values. Received: 17 March 2000 Accepted: 1 September 2000     

Rapid Characterization of Wood Pulp Lignin by Fourier Transform Raman Spectroscopy

FT-Raman spectroscopy is used for the rapid measurement of wood pulp lignin. A total of 23 western softwood pulp samples with known kappa numbers (10–38) are used. Each sample is divided into three portions and scanned separately. The integrated area of the lignin band at approximately 1600 cm⁻¹is ratioed against the integrated area of the cellulose bands in the 1200–1010 cm⁻¹region and correlated to known kappa numbers. The measured ratios behave linearly with the kappa number (r= 0.99) and can be reproducibly determined with an error of approximately 2% or less. The data are presented and discussed in view of the potential for at-line analysis of lignin associated with chemical delignification of wood pulp.     

磺化木质素系聚合物的结构及其在氧化铝上的吸附特性

以造纸黑液中的碱木质素为主要原料,通过磺化和缩聚反应制备了磺化木质素高分子聚合物SBAL.TEM和1H-NMR测试结果表明SBAL是以木质素的疏水骨架为中心,以磺酸基和羧基组成亲水性侧链的球形结构.GPC测试结果表明其重均分子量达到了24880 Da,是碱木质素的7.38倍,电位滴定测试结果表明,其磺化度达到2.70 mmol.g-1.通过流变曲线、吸附等温线、zeta电位、XPS测试研究了其对氧化铝在水中的分散机理及其吸附特性.掺SBAL的氧化铝浆体,在pH=3～12范围内SBAL对其具有良好的分散降黏作用.溶液pH对SBAL的分子构型和吸附特性有较大的影响,随pH增加,SBAL中磺酸基、羧基和酚羟基逐渐电离,分子的伸展程度逐渐增大.随pH增加,SBAL在氧化铝上的吸附质量减少,吸附层由致密逐渐变得疏松,pH小于等电点时以静电吸附为主,pH大于等电点时以非静电的特性吸附为主.当SBAL的用量小于临界值(0.5 wt%)时,其在氧化铝表面形成单分子层吸附,在颗粒间起到静电排斥作用;当用量大于临界值时,其在颗粒表面形成聚集体吸附而起到空间位阻作用.     

Precipitation of lignin and extractives on kraft pulp: effect on surface chemistry, surface morphology and paper strength

The effect of pH on the formation of precipitates (lignin, extractives and metals) on kraft pulp surfaces was examined by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM). A softwood kraft pulp slurry from an oxygen delignification stage was diluted to 3% consistency with water or an acidic Z filtrate. After heating to 70 °C the pH was lowered from 11 to 2–5, using sulphuric acid. Lignin and extractives precipitated at pH values below 6, and their amounts increased with decreasing pH. Most of the precipitated lignin was found on the pulp surface after sheet forming, whereas the main part of the precipitated extractives could be easily washed away with water. The layer of precipitated lignin was apparently thicker than the layer of extractives. AFM showed the precipitated material as a granular phase. Neither surface morphology nor surface coverage depended on the addition of Z filtrate. The amount of metals ID the pulp and on the pulp surface decreased when pH was lowered to 2. More metals, such as Ca and Mg, were detected ID the pulps as well as on the sheet surfaces when the pulp was diluted with Z filtrate. Strength and bonding properties of the pulp sheets were slightly impaired by the precipitated material. Acidification appears to be the main reason for the precipitation of both lignin and extractives on the pulp surfaces. This should be taken into account when filtrates are recycled ID the bleaching or washing of pulps.     

Pyrolysis-GC/MS and TG/MS study of mediated laccase biodelignification of Eucalyptus globulus kraft pulp

Biobleaching studies using laccase mediator system (LMS) were carried out, under optimized conditions, on two unbleached Eucalyptus globulus kraft pulps, one produced by conventional way, with kappa number of 16.1, and another with kappa number of 14.5, obtained by modified kraft procedure with a high liquor/wood ratio and with black liquor replacement in the middle of the cooking. The pulp properties before and after LMS and alkaline extraction were evaluated in terms of kappa number, hexeneuronic acid content, viscosity, brightness and acid insoluble lignin content.The original milled wood sample and the kraft pulps were characterized by pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) and thermogravimetry/mass spectrometry (TG/MS). Eucalypt wood lignin produces guaiacol and syringol derivatives during pyrolysis. These lignin products can be detected with high sensitivity using the selected ion chromatograms even in the bleached pulp of low lignin content (about 0.5%). Py-GC/MS revealed that the lignin moieties were similarly altered during biobleaching as during pulping, which is exemplified by the preferential removal of aldehyde groups from the alkyl side groups. Semi-quantitative analysis of the pyrograms indicates that the lignin content of the biobleached pulps is reduced by about half in comparison with the unbleached pulps. The TG/MS results show that the hemicellulose content of wood was strongly modified during pulping resulting in higher thermal stability.     

碱木质素在超临界水中Ru/C纳米管催化气化的降解研究

针对碱木质素难降解的特点,在间歇式反应器中,以Ru/C纳米管为催化剂,对碱木质素在超临界水中的气化进行研究。分别探讨了碱木质素在不同温度、水密度、反应时间、反应浓度、催化剂量的影响,并且分析了Ru/C纳米管催化剂的催化效率。通过单因素实验分析,确定了Ru/C纳米管催化剂催化气化碱木质素的最佳反应条件为,反应温度600 ℃、水密度0.128 4 g/cm³、反应时间60 min、反应质量分数3.0%、催化剂量0.5 g/g(碱木质素)。结果表明,碱木质素在超临界水气化过程中,高温、高水密度(或压力)、长反应时间、低反应物浓度及适量的催化剂将更有利于碱木质素的气化。在最佳反应条件下碱木质素的气化率和碳气化率分别达到73.74%和56.34%,且制氢能力也得到明显提高。     

Lignin adsorption on cellulose fibre surfaces: Effect on surface chemistry, surface morphology and paper strength

The adsorption of lignin on cellulose fibres at neutral pH and the effects of calcium ions and a cationic polyelectrolyte (PDADMAC) on the adsorption have been studied. The surface coverage by lignin was determined by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA). The morphology of the lignin layer was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The effect of adsorbed polyelectrolyte and lignin on the strength properties of the paper was also studied. The adsorbed amount of lignin increased monotonically with lignin concentration. Addition of calcium ions resulted in a very high surface coverage by lignin. PDADMAC did not enhance the adsorption of lignin, but without addition of polyelectrolyte the lignin was very weakly attached to the fibre surface. PDADMAC formed complexes with lignin in solution. At high polymer/lignin concentration ratios the charge of the complex was positive and it adsorbed irreversibly as large blobs. At low ratios the complex was easily washed away from the fibre surface. When PDADMAC was pre-adsorbed on the fibre surface the lignin adsorbed as small granules at all lignin concentrations. Neither PDADMAC nor lignin alone increased the strength of pulp sheets significantly. However, together they increased the bonding between fibres.     

Sorption of spruce O-acetylated galactoglucomannans onto different pulp fibres

Sorption of spruce acetylated galactoglucomannans (GGM) onto different pulps, among which unbleached and peroxide-bleached mechanical pulps, and unbleached and bleached kraft (BK) pulps, was studied as a means of understanding the retention of acetylated GGMs in mechanical pulping and papermaking. The fibre surface coverage of lignin and carbohydrates was estimated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) or electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA). GGM sorption was clearly favoured on kraft pulps. Hardly any differences in sorption were, however, observed between unbleached and BK pulps, even if the surface coverage of lignin was lower on the bleached pulp. Neither thermomechanical pulp (TMP) nor chemithermomechanical pulp (CTMP) manufactured from spruce sorbed any acetylated GGMs. Peroxide bleaching of the pulp did not increase sorption. Only CTMP produced from aspen sorbed some GGMs. The anionic charge of neither chemical nor mechanical pulps influenced GGM sorption.     

Properties and treatments of pulps from recycled paper. Part II. Surface properties and crystallinity of fibers and fines

Surface properties of bleached kraft pulps were evaluated before and after recycling, and after a series of chemical treatments designed to improve and/or modify the pulp characteristics. The surface free energy characteristics of the pulps were determined using the Wilhelmy technique, and ESCA and ATR-FTIR methods were used to evaluate the chemical composition of the surfaces of the pulp fibers. In general rather small changes were noted at the fiber surfaces with recycling and chemical treatment. Recycling tended to increase the acid component and decrease the base component of the surface free energy of the pulps. This could result from exposure of carboxyl groups from hemicelluloses and/or from oxidized layers from the bleaching process. ESCA analyses also indicated increased carboxyl concentration at the surfaces of the recycled fibers. Although treatment with aqueous bases and organic solvents tended to increase the hydroxyl content on the surface of recycled pulps, the chemical treatments were not beneficial to pulp quality. AFM and SEM of fiber and fine surfaces of kraft pulps revealed that the fines fraction was altered to a much greater extent with recycling. Although recycled fibers appeared to have improved wettability, these small changes in the surface characteristics do not appear to play the dominant role in the characteristics of recycled pulps. Recycling did not change the crystallinity of whole pulps, but it increased the crystallinity of the fines fraction. The increase in the crystallinity of the fines fraction and the reduction in the water retention value (WRV) and the bulk carboxyl content (xylan) of the recycled pulps, as noted in Part I of this paper, appear to play the predominant role in determining the characteristics of recycled pulps. It appears that the loss of the hemicelluloses in the bulk of the fiber with recycling is much more important for internal fibrillation than the apparent small increase of hemicelluloses at the surface of recycled fibers.     

Displacement washing of soda rapeseed pulp

The paper deals with the displacement washing of unbleached pulp cooked from rapeseed straw by soda pulping under laboratory conditions. Pulp fibres were characterised by their average length, as well as by effective specific volume and surface. Using the step function input change method, the washing breakthrough curves measured for alkali lignin as a tracer were described by the dispersed plug flow model containing a dimensionless criterion, the Péclet number. Besides the wash yield, the dispersion coefficient as well as the mean residence time and space time were evaluated. Preliminary results obtained for soda rapeseed pulp were compared with those for kraft hardwood (beech) and softwood (spruce, pine) pulps published earlier. The wash yield measured for soda pulp was found to be lower than that for hardwood and softwood pulps which manifested lower hydraulic resistance. The presence of silique valves in rapeseed straw resulted in lower mean residence time of lignin removed from the pulp bed in comparison with pulp manufactured from stalks only.     

Surface characterization of stepwise oxidized spruce thermomechanical pulp samples by different analytical methods

An investigation of the fiber samples with various amounts of lignin, hemicelluloses and cellulose was conducted by means of dye adsorption, spectrometric and chemical analyses. Five fiber samples were prepared by the oxidation of unbleached Norway spruce thermo-mechanical pulp with acidic potassium permanganate solution. Each sample was oxidized with defined amount of KMnO₄ and the degree of oxidation was determined as kappa number. Fibers were additionally characterized by conductometric titration, the determination of hemicelluloses and infrared spectrometry. Sorption of various types of dye, namely Methylene Blue (MB), Crystal Violet (CV) and Astra Blue (AB) on the fiber surface was studied and compared to the kappa number and other fiber characteristics. The adsorption of MB and CV is found to follow the amount of anionic (carboxylic) groups, which at first increase and later decrease toward the final stages of oxidation. The behavior of AB is nearly the opposite, its adsorption increases with the depletion of lignin and carboxylate groups, pointing to a different mechanism of AB binding on fibers.     

Effect of digestion time and alkali addition rate on physical properties of magnetite nanoparticles

We investigate the effect of digestion time and alkali addition rate on the size and magnetic properties of precipitated magnetite nanoparticles. It is observed that the time required to complete the growth process for magnetite nanocrystals is very short (approximately 300 s), compared to long digestion times (20-190 min) required for MnO and CdSe nanocrystals. The rapid growth of magnetite nanoparticles suggests that Oswald ripening is insignificant during the precipitation stage, due to the low solubility of the oxides and the domination of a solid-state reaction where high electron mobility between Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions drives a local cubic close-packed ordering. During the growth stage (0-300 s), the increase in the particle size is nominal (6.7-8.2 nm). The effect of alkali addition rate on particle size reveals that the nanocrystal size decreases with increasing alkali addition rate. The particle size decreases from 11 to 6.8 nm as the alkali addition rate is increased from 1 to 80 mL/s. During the size decrease, the lattice parameter decreases from 0.838 to 0.835 nm, which is attributed to an increase in the amount of Fe3+ atoms at the surface due to oxidation. As the alkali addition rate increases, the solution reaches supersaturation state rapidly leading to the formation of large number of initial nuclei at the nucleation stage, resulting in large number of particles with smaller size. When alkali addition rate is increased from 1 to 80 mL/s, the saturation magnetization of the particles decreases from 60 to 46 emu/g due to the reduced particle size.     

芬顿预处理对木质素快速热解甲氧基脱除规律研究

采用不同H₂O₂含量的芬顿溶液对碱木质素进行预处理，并结合快速热解，探究轻质生物油中含甲氧基化合物含量的变化规律，同时研究了芬顿溶液对木质素结构的影响规律。结果表明，轻质生物油中含甲氧基团的酚类化合物峰面积从AL（未处理碱木质素）的7.3×10⁹下降至13-FML（H₂O₂含量为13 mL/g芬顿溶液预处理碱木质素）的5.2×10⁹，减少了0.29倍。而含甲基团和乙基团的酚类化合物峰面积从AL的3.9×10⁹上升到13-FML的7.2×10⁹，增加了0.85倍。同时，轻质生物油产率从22.4%提高到28.7%。通过FT-IR、¹H NMR和¹³C NMR分析发现，芬顿预处理使木质素凝缩性结构单元减少，甲氧基含量降低，为后续快速热解产生低甲氧基含量的生物油提供了有利条件。     

Surface characteristics of polysulfoalkyl methacrylates

Coated hydroxyethyl methacrylate-sodium sulfoalkyl methacrylate copolymer films were surface characterized. The contact angle hysteresis increases and the receding angle decreases with increasing alkyl side-chain length, while the advancing angle decreases with hydration time. It was found that the buoyancy slopes of the advancing (r_a) and receding (r_r) process determined by the Wilhelmy plate method were not parallel. The ratio of r_a to r_r was greater than 1, and increases with the alkyl side-chain length and the hydration time, contrary to that of polyhydroxyethyl methacrylate, where r_a/r_r was less than 1. The slope ratio would be suppressed in solution with added salt, revealing that the reorientation and expansion of the polymer chain in water is being suppressed. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis of the surface of these copolymers showed a striking enrichment of the sulfonate groups in the surface. The zeta potential was between −40 and −50 mV as measured by the streaming potential method. During dehydration, along with a decrease in sulfur and sodium concentration in the surface, the carbon 1s peak at the high binding energy decreased and the alkyl carbon main peak increased. The surface tension of aqueous solutions of sulfoalkyl methacrylate monomers and homopolymers decreases with increasing alkyl side-chain length, which may contribute to the decrease in water-polymer film interfacial tension and thus the increase in the slope ratio.     

脱铝八面沸石的催化行为——非晶格铝的影响

经水热处理和SiCl4处理得到了两个系列的脱铝Y沸石USY（W）和USY（T）。经X射线衍射分析、化学分析和ESCA研究确定USY（W）中包含有非晶格铝，通过TPD、IR研究发现，沸石中非晶格铝屏蔽了沸石中的强酸中心，同时产生部分弱酸中心，经异丙苯裂化反应和DTA实验发现非晶格铝的存在虽使反应活性降低，但却提高了抗积碳能力。     

Cellulose Depolymerisation and Paper Properties in E. Globulus Kraft Pulps

The aim of this work was to study the impact of cellulose depolymerisation on the beating potential and handsheet properties of the portuguese E. globulus kraft pulp. A homogeneous sample of eucalypt wood chips was cooked using different kraft pulping conditions (cooking temperatures and times, and sodium hydroxide and sodium sulphide concentrations) in order to obtain a wide variation for intrinsic viscosity of the pulps. In the range of industrial cooking conditions, this property was found to be linearly dependent on the effective alkali charge, for a given cooking time and temperature. Unbeaten and beaten (at 2000 rev. PFI) pulp properties were evaluated and the results confirm that the higher the pulp intrinsic viscosity the better the pulp beatability and the paper properties. However, the differences in the latter cannot be exclusively explained by the differences in viscosity, since pulps with the same viscosity may exhibit distinct papermaking potentials. It was then necessary to scan other pulp chemical characteristics that could also influence the development of paper properties such as lignin, pentosan content and polysaccharides relative composition.     

Analytical pyrolysis study of biodelignification of cloned Eucalyptus globulus (EG) clone and Pinus pinaster Aiton kraft pulp and residual lignins

This study centred on the analysis of lignin in situ of cloned eucalypt and pine kraft pulps. Trametes versicolor laccase-violuric acid system (LMS) delignifications were performed on a softwood (Pinus pinaster) and a hardwood (Eucalyptus globulus) conventional kraft pulp with an initial kappa number of 34.5 and 15.5, respectively. The LMS treated pulps were then subjected to alkaline extraction stages (E). The kappa number data show that LMS is effective at biodelignifying both softwood and hardwood kraft pulps. However, under the conditions employed in this study, a greater level of biodelignification was obtained with LMS E. globulus (hardwood) than with LMS P. pinaster (softwood), but the amount of lignin removed was higher for the softwood pulp. The original milled wood samples, kraft pulps, biodelignified kraft pulps, and isolated residual lignin and milled wood lignins from the two wood samples have been characterized by pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The analysis of the pyrograms indicates that the lignin compositions of the two wood species and corresponding pulps are very different, as expected; however, the knowledge of the chemical mechanisms of delignification is very limited and requires additional work. Analytical pyrolysis is one the few degradative methods for the analysis of biopolymers that has shown a sufficient degree of success.     

Direct analysis of lignin and lignin-like components from softwood kraft pulp by Py-GC/MS techniques

Analytical pyrolysis combined with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry was used to analyse the structure and quantity of aromatic components, mainly guaiacyl and hydroxyphenyl derivatives, directly from chemical pulps. The quantity of aromatic degradation products was determined using a new external calibration method. The external standard was analyzed similarly to the pulp sample, and the combined area of the degradation products formed, normalized to the sample amount, was used for calibration. The method was sensitive enough to detect aromatics from fully bleached softwood pulps at a concentration level of 0.4 wt.%.The effect of bleaching on lignin structures in softwood pulps was studied by following the changes in guaiacyl-type degradation product distribution. The residual lignin structures that had been modified during cooking were removed during the course of bleaching. The residual lignin in fully bleached pulps therefore was found to bear features characteristic of native lignin in addition to increased oxidation. A striking enrichment of hydroxyphenyl-type aromatic pyrolysis products was observed during bleaching. It is suggested that they are derived not only from lignin but also from other pulp components.