A Study of the Use of Borates in Semi-Chemical Pulping

The purpose of this project was to identify sodium metaborate as a pulping chemical in semi-chemical pulping with soda ash. The experimental design included four digester cooks with 0%, 10%, 20%, and 40% addition of.the borate compound. The resulting yields were 81. 3 %, 79. 2%, 77.4 %, and 7 4. 5% respectively. Therefore, under the definition of pulping, sodium metaborate was considered a pulping chemical. The pulps were mechanically refined. The resulting screened rejects increased with increasing borate addition. Handsheets were made and tested for strength and optical properties. The tensile and mull en strengths of the handsheets increased with addition of borates up to 20%, but degradation of the bonding properties occurred at high addition levels (40%). The tear strength increased dramatically (up to 24.1%) with the addition of borates to the pulping liquor. Brightness and visual color were slightly improved. The results indicate that the sodium metaborate was an effective pulping chemical with a tendency to be selective in delignification. Further work should be performed to compare the effect of substitution against conventional non-borate pulping, and possible changes in bleached pulp quality

Anaerobic co-digestion of acetate-rich with lignin-rich wastewater and the effect of hydrotalcite addition

The methane potential and biodegradability of different ratios of acetate and lignin-rich effluents from a neutral sulfite semi-chemical (NSSC) pulp mill were investigated. Results showed ultimate methane yields up to 333 ± 5 mL CH4/gCOD when only acetate-rich substrate was added and subsequently lower methane potentials of 192 ± 4 mL CH4/gCOD when the lignin fraction was increased. The presence of lignin showed a linear decay in methane production, resulting in a 41% decrease in methane when the lignin-rich feed had a 30% increase. A negative linear correlation between lignin content and biodegradability was also observed. Furthermore, the effect of hydrotalcite (HT) addition was evaluated and showed increase in methane potential of up to 8%, a faster production rate and higher soluble lignin removal (7–12% higher). Chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies between 64 and 83% were obtained for all samples.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Lignin engineering in forest trees

Wood is a renewable resource that is mainly composed of lignin and cell wall polysaccharides. The polysaccharide fraction is valuable as it can be converted into pulp and paper, or into fermentable sugars. On the other hand, the lignin fraction is increasingly being considered a valuable source of aromatic building blocks for the chemical industry. The presence of lignin in wood is one of the major recalcitrance factors in woody biomass processing, necessitating the need for harsh chemical treatments to degrade and extract it prior to the valorization of the cell wall polysaccharides, cellulose and hemicellulose. Over the past years, large research efforts have been devoted to engineering lignin amount and composition to reduce biomass recalcitrance toward chemical processing. We review the efforts made in forest trees, and compare results from greenhouse and field trials. Furthermore, we address the value and potential of CRISPR-based gene editing in lignin engineering and its integration in tree breeding programs

Potential of Acacia melanoxylon for Pulping

Most of the fibre raw materials used by the pulp and paper industry are from a small number of tree species. For instance, Eucalyptus and Pinus species are the major industrial pulpwood sources obtained from forests characterized by a relatively low biodiversity. The large monoculture areas also increase environmental risks such as those related to biotic attacks or forest fires. Diversification of industrial fibre sources has therefore been a matter of research and the characterization of different raw materials has been made in view of their pulping potential. Acacia melanoxylon R. Br. (blackwood) grows well in Portugal in pure or mixed stands with Pinus pinaster Aiton, and is valued as a timber species with potential for sawmills. In addition, the wood anatomical and chemical characteristics also allow to consider the species as an alternative raw material for the pulp industry. Acacia species, with their relatively short, flexible and collapsible fibres, have potential to produce papers with good trade-offs between light scattering/tensile strength and smoothness/tensile strength, at low energy consumption in refining. The pulping and paper making potential of blackwood has been studied by several authors showing an overall good pulping aptitude under the same experimental conditions of kraft pulping as used for eucalypt pulping with pulp yields ranging between 47 and 58 %. The presence of heartwood should be taken into account because it decreases the raw-material quality for pulping due to the higher extractives content. Heartwood proportion should therefore be considered as a quality variable when using A. melanoxylon wood in pulp industries. This chapter describes the characterization of the A. melanoxylon wood pulping performance, regarding yield and kappa number, and the pulp and paper properties. The application of fast spectroscopic technologies for pulp quality determination is also described.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An Analysis of the Wash and Flotation Deinking Processes

The purpose of this paper is to obtain data, so that we may compare the ability of Floatation vs. Wash deinking to produce a paper of equal standards as the original unprinted base-stock. It was determined that both flotation and wash deinked stock with the addition of 40% fresh pulp can produce a paper of equal physical and optical properties as the unprinted stock from which it was made. Floatation deinked stock was found have a higher materials cost, however, it displayed better strength and opacity properties than wash deinked stock. The difference is thought to result from a large fines loss in the wash deinking process

Novel biological approaches for the removal of chlorophenolics [AOX] from bleach plant effluent

No abstract available

Wood polymer composites and their contribution to cascading utilisation

Due to a shortage of resources and a growing competition of land use, sustainable and efficient resource utilisation becomes increasingly important. The application and multiple, cascading utilisation of renewable resources is aimed at to ensure an allocation and future availability of resources. Wood polymer composites (WPCs) are a group of innovative materials consisting of mainly renewable resources. By means of summarizing recent research, it is shown how WPC can potentially contribute to an enhanced cascading utilisation. For the production of WPC, waste materials and by-products from wood and agricultural industry, e.g. offcuts, sawdust, residues from board manufacturing, pulping sludge, can serve as a raw material. Furthermore, the cited literature presents the use of recycled polymers and biopolymers as a potential alternative for the polymer component of WPC. By using biodegradable polymers, a fully biodegradable composite can be formed. In addition to using recycled materials and potentially being biodegradable, it is pointed out that WPC furthermore offers the possibility of being recycled itself, therefore being considered as a “green composite”. Although the influence of contaminated waste streams and mixed filler and polymer types on the properties of WPC made with such recyclates is yet not fully understood and no collection systems exist for post-consumer WPC, in-house recycling on the production sites is identified as a promising option as it reduces production costs and enhances resource efficiency and cascading utilisation. On the basis of cited life cycle assessments, the eco friendliness of WPC is assessed resulting in the conclusion that WPC cannot compete with solid wood with respect to environmental impact but is an environmentally friendly alternative to neat plastics in several applications

Substituting Wood with Nonwood Fibers in Papermaking: A Win-Win Solution for Bangladesh

Bangladesh is facing an acute shortage of fibrous raw materials for the production of pulp and paper. On the other hand, the demand for paper and paper products is increasing day by day. This study reviews the availability and suitability of nonwood raw materials for pulp production in Bangladesh. It shows that Bangladesh has a huge amount of unused jute fiber, which is highly suitable for papermaking in Bangladesh. Other agricultural wastes like rice straw, dhaincha, golpata fronds, cotton stalks, corn stalks, and kash are also available and may be used for some pulp production. Given the different properties of these different nonwood fibers, jute pulp can be used as a reinforcing agent with other nonwood pulps for the production of high quality paper in Bangladesh.Bangladesh, natural fibers, jute, paper making, pulp