The role of stilbenes in bleaching and colour stability of mechanical pulps. I. The reaction of lignin model stilbenes with alkali and oxygen

The reactions of lignin model hydroxystilbenes and TMP with alkaline hydrogen peroxide and with alkali and oxygen have been studied to determine the susceptibility of stilbenes, to oxidative degradation. Oxygen in the presence of alkali readily destroys lignin model stilbenes via cleavage of the olefinic double bond. The stilbene must contain a ring hydroxyl substituent for the reaction to occur. The reaction is fastest if the stilbenes havep,p′-dihydroxyl substituents. Stilbenes of the type likely to be attached to the lignin in pulps have only one hydroxyl group and are more stable. Hydrogen peroxide, by itself, is unreactive with stilbenes but the presence of oxygen as a peroxide decomposition product should limit the accumulation of stilbenes during alkaline peroxide bleaching of mechanical pulps. Alkaline peroxide bleaching of mechanical pulps under a pressurised atmosphere of oxygen gas leads to a slight increase in brightness and brightness stability. Guaiacyl-substituted stilbenes are more stable to alkali and oxygen than are syringyl-substituted stilbenes. This may partially explain why it is easier to bleach hardwood than softwood mechanical pulps.     

The effect of Fenton chemistry on the properties of microfibrillated cellulose

A fully bleached birch kraft pulp was treated with acidic hydrogen peroxide in the presence of ferrous ions (Fenton’s reagent) and thereafter treated mechanically in a colloid mill to produce a product containing microfibrillated cellulose (MFC). The produced MFC products were chemically and morphologically characterized and compared with MFC products produced without pretreatment as well as with enzymatic hydrolysis. Fenton treatment resulted in an increase in total charge and number of carbonyl groups while the intrinsic viscosity decreased. The Fenton treated pulps were easier to process mechanically i.e. they reached a higher specific surface area at a given mechanical treatment time and the MFC produced had a stable water-fibre suspension for at least 8 weeks compared to enzymatic pretreated pulps and pulps not subjected to any pretreatment.     

Reactions of lignin in chlorine dioxide bleaching of kraft pulps

The reactions between chlorine dioxide and the residual lignin in oxygen-bleached softwood kraft pulps have been studied. In a first series, isolated lignin samples have been subjected to chlorine dioxide oxidation at different pH values and subsequently analysed by oxidative degradation and elemental analysis. Different analytical techniques have also been employed to follow the gradual chemical changes in lignins isolated from kraft pulps after each of the bleaching stages in the OD(EOP)DD sequence. The results demonstrate that, in order to minimize chlorination of the lignin, the first chlorine dioxide stage should be carried out at a pH around or above three. At this pH level, a high degree of lignin oxidation is also achieved. A certain (mono)-chlorination of the lignin in the first D stage cannot be avoided, but this chlorine is to a large extent removed in the later bleaching stages. The efficient and non-selective oxidation of the various phenolic lignin end groups by chlorine dioxide is clearly illustrated by the analytical data. Moreover,¹³C NMR reveals that reduced lignin structures formed during the kraft cook survive the oxidative bleaching stages to a large extent.     

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.     

Reactions ofOrtho-quinones and the model compound 4-t-butyl-1,2-benzo-quinone in alkaline peroxide

The literature on the occurence and reactions of quinone structures in mechanical pulps has been reviewed. A study on the reactions of a quinone model compound (4-t-butyl-1,2-benzoquinone) in alkaline hydrogen peroxide has been reported, with detailed analysis of reaction products and kinetic phenomena. The study reveals that the diversity of products formed is much more complex than that obtained using an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde as a model, a simple second-order expression can be used to describe the kinetics. The kinetics representing chromophore removal for the two classes of model compound are compared with previously reported studies of kinetic phenomena during bleaching of mechanical pulps.     

The Degree of Disorder in Hardwood Kraft Pulps Studied by Means of LODP

The amount of disordered material in two types of hardwood kraft pulps was estimated by determining the weight loss at the point where the levelling-off degree of polymerisation (LODP) was reached. The pulps used were commercial pulps viz (1)one conventional birch kraft and (2)one mixed hardwood (MHW) kraft pulp that had been prehydrolysed prior to cooking. The results indicated that the hemicellulose xylan is closely associated with the cellulose in commercial birch pulps. It is therefore only possible to use LODP as a measure of the crystallite length of hardwood cellulose in highly purified pulps, such as prehydrolysed kraft pulp. A model explaining the LODP-results is proposed.     

The effect of eucalypt pulp xylan content on its bleachability,refinability and drainability

Currently, bleached eucalypt pulps are largely used for printing and writing (P&W) and sanitary (tissue) paper grades. Among the many pulp quality requirements for P&W and tissue paper production the xylan content is one of the most significant. For P&W papers, increasing xylans improve pulp refinability and strength properties but negatively affect bulk and drainability. For tissue paper, xylans are purportedly advantageous during paper drying in the Yankee cylinder but negatively affect paper bulk and may increase dusting during paper manufacture. On the other hand, bleachability is a very important parameter for both P&W and tissue grade pulps since bleaching cost is the second most significant in eucalypt bleached kraft pulp production. The aim of this study was evaluating the influence of eucalyptus pulp xylan content on its bleachability, refinability and drainability. A sample of industrial unbleached eucalyptus kraft pulp containing 15.6?% xylans was treated with various alkali charges at room temperature in order to obtain materials with different xylan contents. The pulps were bleached to 90 % ISO brightness with the O–D_HT–(EP)–D sequence and evaluated for their refinability and drainability. By increasing the alkali concentration in the range of 10–70 g/L pulps of 14.5–5.9 % xylans were produced with no significant impact on cellulose crystallinity. The decrease of xylan content significantly decreased pulp bleaching chemical demand, water retention value and refinability and increased pulp drainability.     

Comparison of hot-water extraction and steam treatment for production of high purity-grade dissolving pulp from green bamboo

The performance of hot-water extraction (HWE) and steam treatment (ST), followed by kraft pulping were compared for production of high purity-grade dissolving pulp from green bamboo. With the same prehydrolysis intensity (represented by the P-factor), the fractionation efficiency of HWE is far lower than that of ST. Because of lower removal of non-cellulosic components, the solid residue from HWE (even at approximately double the prehydrolysis intensity, P-factor = 1,379) required more active alkali (AA) during kraft pulping to obtain a cellulose purity equivalent to that achieved by the ST (P-factor = 756)-kraft process. To reach equivalent hemicellulose removal, HWE required more severe intensity than ST. However, FTIR and SEM characterizations of solid residue confirmed that intensified HWE resulted in significant lignin condensation. Antagonistic effects of hemicellulose removal and lignin condensation extent on subsequent kraft pulping were therefore more apparent in HWE than that in ST. Under the same kraft pulping conditions, lignin condensation from a severely intensified HWE process (P-factor = 2,020) caused greater cellulose yield and viscosity loss than that found for ST. Finally, at a given residual pentosan or lignin content, the cellulose yields from all HWE-kraft pulps were about 3 % lower than those from ST-kraft pulps. Consequently, based on an optimally setup chlorine dioxide bleaching stage, a cellulosic pulp with alpha-cellulose content of 97.6 % and viscosity of 927 mL/g was successfully produced from a ST-kraft pulp (P-factor = 756, AA = 19 %).     

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.     

FT-Raman,FT-infrared and NIR spectroscopic characterization of oxygen-delignified kraft pulp treated with hydrogen peroxide under acidic and alkaline conditions

The effects of bleaching treatment of oxygen-delignified softwood kraft pulp with hydrogen peroxide under acidic and alkaline conditions were studied using standard technological techniques and spectroscopic analytical methods: near-infrared (NIR), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and Fourier-transform (FT) Raman spectroscopies. Among the three tested spectroscopic techniques, NIR analysis appeared to be the most appropriate in terms of possible technological applications. The use of NIR spectroscopy combined with multivariate data analysis allowed to create models for pulp bleaching monitoring based on CIE L*a*b* measurements. Near-infrared and FTIR spectroscopic studies allowed differentiating between the effects of the acidic and alkaline peroxide bleaching stages, but failed in relation to the delignification process. The most representative bands in the FTIR and FT-Raman spectra in terms of delignification and chromophore removal exhibited no correlation with standard technological measurement results.     

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.     

Activated peroxide bleaching of regenerated bamboo fiber using a butyrolactam-based cationic bleach activator

Regenerated bamboo fibers are potentially a valuable source of renewable fibers for use in a wide variety of applications. As with almost all natural fibers, inherent yellowness must be reduced or eliminated in order for the fibers to be used effectively in processes such as dyeing. Oxidative bleaching in the form of hot alkaline hydrogen peroxide is the most common method for bleaching cellulosic fibers. However, significant fiber damage results, especially in the case of regenerated bamboo. Recently, more benign oxidative bleaching methods have been developed using so-called bleach activators. Reported is an effective bleaching method using a novel bleach activator, N-[4-(triethylammoniomethyl)benzoyl]butyrolactam chloride (TBBC). The ratio of TBBC to hydrogen peroxide and pH were found to be critical to achieving effective bleaching at low temperature. Using equimolar amounts of TBBC and hydrogen peroxide at pH 7 and 50 °C, comparable whiteness and less fiber damage compared with conventional peroxide bleaching was obtained. However, at pH 11.5, TBBC had no effect on whiteness.     

Sulfur-free dissolving pulps and their application for viscose and lyocell

In this study, the concept of multifunctional alkaline pulping has been approved to produce high-purity and high-yield dissolving pulps. The selective removal of hemicelluloses was achieved by either water autohydrolysis (PH) or alkaline extraction (E) both applied as pre-treatments prior to cooking. Alternatively, hemicelluloses were isolated after oxygen delignification in a process step denoted as cold caustic extraction (CCE). Eucalyptus globulus wood chips were used as the raw material for kraft and soda-AQ pulping. In all process modifications sulfur was successfully replaced by anthraquinone. By these modifications purified dissolving pulps were subjected to TCF bleaching and comprehensive viscose and lyocell application tests. All pulps met the specifications for dissolving pulps. Further more, CCE-pulps showed a significantly higher yield after final bleaching. Morphological changes such as ultrastructure of the preserved outer cell wall layers, specific surface area and lateral fibril aggregate dimension correlated with the reduced reactivity towards regular viscose processing. The residual xylan after alkali purification depicted a lower content of functional groups and a higher molecular weight and was obviously entrapped in the cellulose fibril aggregates which render the hemicelluloses more resistant to steeping in the standard viscose process. Simultaneously, the supramolecular structure of the cellulose is partly converted from cellulose I to cellulose II by the alkaline purification step which did not influence the pulps reactivity significantly. Nevertheless, these differences in pulp parameters did not affect the lyocell process due to the outstanding solubility of the pulps in NMMO. Laboratory spinning revealed good fiber strength for both, regular viscose and lyocell fibers. The high molecular weight xylan of the CCE-treated pulps even took part in fiber forming.     

Ultrasound assisted biobleaching of cotton

In this study, the effect of ultrasound on the activity of the glucose oxidase (GOx) enzyme for bleaching of the cotton fabrics was investigated. Hydrogen peroxide generation with the GOx enzyme from glucose was carried out under ultrasonic homogenizer (UH) and ultrasonic bath support. The aim of using ultrasonic support was to increase the yield of the enzyme reactions. The enzymatically generated hydrogen peroxide was used for bleaching of cotton fabrics. The bleaching process was performed at 90 °C and pH 11 (with NaOH) for 60 min, followed by rinsing at 70 and 50 °C then cold washing. The whiteness degrees of the cotton samples that were bleached by the generated peroxide were compared to the whiteness degrees of the conventionally bleached cotton fabrics. Sufficient whiteness degrees in cotton fabrics could be obtained by enzymatically generated hydrogen peroxide by UH support. The initial whiteness degree of the cotton fabric was 59.9 Stensby degrees; the whiteness was increased to 75.6 Stensby degrees by the GOx enzyme under UH support where the conventional bleaching process yielded a whiteness value of 76.7 Stensby degrees. For efficient cotton bleaching by the GOx enzyme, UH support contributed to the concentration of enzymatically generated hydrogen peroxide by the GOx enzyme. Bleaching of cotton by the GOx enzyme was approved as a more environmentally friendly process compared to the conventional bleaching method in respect of the results of chemical oxygen demand tests.     

Photosensitized dehydrochlorination of poly(vinyl chloride). III. Reaction of thermally degraded poly(vinyl chloride) with hydrogen chloride

Films prepared from thermally degraded poly(vinyl chloride) were photolyzed in the presence of hydrogen chloride. When the light was filtered through a Pyrex disk, the absorbance in the region between 270 nm and about 415 nm decreased and reached a minimum value but the absorbance increased at wavelengths shorter than 270 nm and longer than 415 nm. Maximum bleaching occurred at a wavelength which depended on that of the irradiating light. When the Pyrex filter was omitted, an additional slower photodehydrochlorination reaction was superimposed on the photobleaching reaction. Photolysis of hexane or ethanol solutions of 1,8-diphenyloctatetra-1,3,5,7-ene and hydrogen chloride showed a similar reaction involving bleaching of the absorption of the polyene structure. The problems of using absorbance as an indication of the extent of the photodegradation of poly(vinyl chloride) are discussed.     

Influence of xylan on the degradability of laboratory kraft pulps from hardwood and reed canary grass in acid hydrolysis

The depolymerisation of laboratory-prepared kraft pulps from birch, eucalyptus and reed canary grass during acid hydrolysis was studied. The intention was to study especially the influence of xylan content on the levelling-off degree of polymerisation (LODP) and on the dissolution of carbohydrates during the acid hydrolysis. The xylan content in the pulps was varied by prehydrolysis prior to the kraft pulping or by alkali-extraction of the bleached pulps, and the levelling-off degree of polymerisation was compared with the amount of xylan left in the pulps at LODP. The dimensions of the original fibers in the pulps and of the fiber fragments after hydrolysis were also measured. It was found that the fiber fragments after hydrolysis were longer in the pulps containing a higher amount of xylan. Xylan thus appears to prevent degradation during acid hydrolysis, both on the fiber level and on the individual cellulose fibril level.     

Cellulose crystallinity and ordering of hemicelluloses in pine and birch pulps as revealed by solid-state NMR spectroscopic methods

Solid-state ¹³C NMR spectroscopy was used to determine the degree of cellulose crystallinity (CrI) in kraft, flow-through kraft and polysulphide–anthraquinone (PS–AQ) pulps of pine and birch containing various amounts of hemicelluloses. The applicability of acid hydrolysis and the purely spectroscopic proton spin-relaxation based spectral edition (PSRE) method to remove the interfering hemicellulose signals prior to the determination of CrI were also compared. For softwood pulps, the spectroscopic removal of hemicelluloses by PSRE was found to be more efficient than the removal of hemicelluloses by acid hydrolysis. In addition to that, the PSRE method also provides information on the associations between cellulose and hemicelluloses. On the basis of the incomplete removal of xylan from the cellulose subspectra by PSRE, the deposition of xylan on cellulose fibrils and therefore an ordered ultrastructure of xylan in birch pulps was suggested. The ordered structure of xylan in birch pulps was also supported by the observed change of xylan conformation after regeneration. Similarly, glucomannan in pine pulps may have an ordered structure. According to the ¹³C CPMAS measurements conducted after acid hydrolysis, the degree of cellulose crystallinity was found to be slightly lower in birch pulps than in the pine pulps. Any significant differences in cellulose crystallinity were not found between the pulps obtained by the various pulping methods. Only in pine PS–AQ pulp, the degree of cellulose crystallinity may be slightly lower than in the kraft pulps containing less hemicelluloses.     

硫酸盐纸浆浓度对纸浆反射光谱影响的定性研究

提出了采用反射光谱测量纸浆卡伯值的新方法。就硫酸盐纸浆浓度对纸浆反射光谱的影响进行了研究。结果表明：在指定波段内纸浆的光反射率受到疏酸盐纸浆水分含量(纸浆浓度)的影响,随着纸浆水分的增加,纸浆的光反射率下降,在长波长处的光反射率降幅大于短波长处;使用该方法时为了有良好的测量分辨率．硫酸盐纸浆浓度应大于2％．     

Alkaline hydrogen peroxide bleaching of cellulose

A closed system bleaching apparatus was designed to determine the kinetics and effects of various factors on alkaline hydrogen peroxide bleaching of textile cellulose fabrics. It was confirmed that perhydroxyl anion is the primary bleaching moiety in alkaline hydrogen peroxide systems. The use of the apparatus in the measurement of fabric color, waste oxygen, and the subsequent calculation of hydroxyl ion, and molecular hydrogen peroxide confirmed that pH and titration of 'free' hydrogen peroxide in alkaline bleaching systems are not good indicators of bleaching mechanism. The role of the cellulose itself in the chemical bleaching system was determined. The rate of bleaching on cotton fabric was shown to be a first order reaction in concentration of perhydroxyl anion at 60 and 90°C. An activation energy of 17kcal/mole was estimated. Decomposition of H₂O₂ into waste oxygen was found to be second order kinetics.     

Analysis of precipitated lignin on kraft pulp fibers using atomic force microscopy

A method is presented which enables analysis of lignin precipitated on the surface of kraft pulp fibers. As experimental input, high-resolution atomic force microscopy phase images of the fiber surfaces have been recorded in tapping mode. A digital image analysis procedure—based on the watershed algorithm—is applied to distinguish between cellulose fibrils and the precipitated lignin. In this way, size distributions for the diameter of lignin precipitates on pulp fiber surfaces can be obtained. In an initial application of the method, three softwood kraft pulps were analyzed: a black liquor cook with a very high content of precipitated lignin, a bleached pulp where nearly no precipitated lignin is visible and an unbleached industrial pulp. The proposed method is suggested as an appropriate tool to investigate the kinetics of lignin precipitation and the structure of lignin precipitates in pulping and bleaching.