Search

Treatment of the abundant oil palm empty fruit bunches with alkaline peroxide chemicals and subsequent fibrillation at varying mechanical energies resulted in favourable morphological changes of the generated fibers. The produced fibrous mass composed of intensely fibrillated elements ranging from micro to nanodiameter fibrils. nanofibrils and webs of nanofibrils were factors contributing to the functionality of the fibrous mass as fibre web augmentation elements. Profound improvement in fiber network is particularly attributable to the ability of the collected elements to fill up inter-fiber gaps and this was attributable to the micro elements in the form of micro fines, segmented micro-fibrils and webs of nanofibrils. The uniquely generated thin layers of nanofibril webs (TN-webs), were found to increase fiber web density by gluing multiple layers of fibers, together. Having landed on the surface of micro-fiber web, these TN-webs were identified as responsible for the masking effects of the underlying micro-fibres. Under such condition, fibers were observed to coalesce, suggesting also an augmented fiber network as evident from the 130% increase in tensile index and a 450% enhancement in burst index of the resultant fiber web relative to those formed with the basic alkaline peroxide chemical-mechanical refining (CMR) synergy. This reveals a great promise to EFB for application as super-strong fibre-web materials such as packaging and specialty paper-based products.

Pulp from the oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) was extracted via Alkaline Peroxide Pulping (APP). The pulping process was conducted through three main steps; dewaxing of EFB, impregnation of alkaline peroxide (AP) into EFB and refining of biomass to finally produce the pulp. The varying peroxide levels and number of impregnation stages were found to affect the refining energy consumption and the properties of the resultant pulp and paper. Diagnosis by electron microscopic imaging revealed a strong correlation between paper properties development and paper surface morphologies. By multiplying the stages of the low alkaline peroxide level (2:2.5% AP) impregnation, refining energy could be reduced by 30% while improving brightness and paper mechanical properties. Higher alkaline peroxide level (4:5% AP) could reduce the refining energy by 50% while still improving brightness. Beyond these AP levels (8:10% AP), refining energy could be reduced by 67% by increasing the number of impregnation stages, with positive effects on brightness and paper mechanical properties. The findings suggest that increasing the AP impregnation stages had exposed more active sites to react with AP. The enhanced AP accessibility to EFB structures facilitated mechanical fibrillation of EFB vascular bundles through the refining process. The proper synergy between AP and the adopted mechanical refining was the factor that triggered the liberation of nanocells from EFB biomass and this had ultimately improved paper properties.

The increasing popularity of the oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) as a source of non-wood fibre has prompted a variety of research on processing and utilisation of the material. In an attempt to define the characters, reusability and end-of-life, oil palm EFB was processed by the alkaline peroxide variable treatment (APVT) systems. Low synergy between alkaline peroxide (AP) chemical and mechanical fibrillation through fibrillation (CMR synergy) revealed the yield of segments of EFB vascular bundles while heightening the mechanical forces further, generated more uniform but a mixture of fiber and segments of fibre bundles. An intermediate CMR synergy generated fibres forming a more well-defined but a rough resultant fibre network due to partial fibrillation of the vascular bundle. Applying maximal CMR synergy was found to generate higher yield of network strengthening fibrous cells. These were later identified as nanoscale fiber network or nanoscan, consisting of 10-80 nm diameter fibers arranging themselves in a systematic network. Analysis of the polarity of fibers harvested from the APVT systems manifests the systematic construction of nanofibrils winding in helical manner to form arrays of nanofibres that glue themselves together as micro-fibrils. Interconnections between fibers and other gluing elements led to the vascular bundle known as the EFB biomass that was once dross and that can now be marvelled as an alternative source of nanofibers for the nanoindustry sector.

In this paper the two-stage method of enzyme-mild acidic hydrolysis was adopted to isolate lignin from the APMP(Alkaline Peroxide Mechanical Pulp),then the isolated lignin was treated with a laccase-mediator system(LMS).The phosphor magnetic resonance spectrum (31P-NMR) measurements and Infrared spectral analysis technology were chosen to analyze the structural changes of LMS-treated APMP residual lignin.

This paper compared the differences of laccase modified APMP and unmodified controlled trails to characterize laccase’s impacts on the whiteness, physical properties and fiber morphology of APMP. From this paper, we can see that after laccase modified, the whiteness of the APMP significantly reduced; physical properties of the APMP were reduced after the first enhanced with increasing the amount of laccase. when the amount of laccase was 2u/g, the physical properties of the APMP were best, the same time after 2u/g laccase treatment ,the surfaces of the pulp fibers engendered the devillicate and peeling.

In this paper, the poplar Alkaline Peroxide Mechanical Pulp (APMP) pulping wastewater was treated by the SBR. The pulping wastewater was from the processes of washing, soaking and defibrination. The COD of the pulping wastewater was 5671 mg/L and the BOD was 1862 mg/L. The B/C (biological oxygen demand/chemical oxygen demand) ratio of the pulping wastewater was 0.32, which indicated that the wastewater was suitable to be treated by biological methods. SBR technology was used to treat the pulping wastewater. After a series of experiments, the best conditions for the pulping wastewater was achieved as follows: time 6hrs, original pH about 8. Under these conditions the removal ratio of COD can reach 81.4% and that of BOD can reach 91.5%;but the removal ratio of the TSS and the Chromaticity were low, the removal ratio of TSS only reach 31.8%.

Aiming at resolving the large difficulty of gap adjustment in APMP (Alkaline Peroxide Mechanical Pulp) refiner, and it is difficult to reach the production requirement by using traditional PID controller, an improved PID controller (human-simulation intelligent PID controller) is proposed through combining the conventional PID controller and human-simulation controller. And it has been used in APMP refiner control, and the simulation results and practical application results show that this method is feasible and accurate.

Paper properties, including physical properties and optical properties, fiber quality analysis and COD in the pulp effluent were used to investigate the effects of substituting Mg (OH)2 for NaOH on the properties of poplar APMP in this paper. The results from fiber quality analysis showed that increasing the substitution levels of Mg (OH)2 for NaOH in the poplar APMP could increase the content of fiber fines,the pulp had shorter average length,and levels of kinking and curl reduced.The results of paper properties analysis ,including physical properties and optical properties ,showed that the bulk and light scattering coefficient of handsheets could be improved,while the physical strength and brightness couled be decreased after using Mg (OH)2.The research for COD in the pulp effluent showed that it could reduce content of COD in the pulp effluent after substituting Mg (OH)2 for NaOH on the properties of poplar APMP,so that clean production can come true easierly,while it could retrench the cost of production and yield good economic returns.

A steam pretreatment method with low severity and post pretreatment with alkaline peroxide were investigated in this study with respect to the factors affecting delignification efficiency of Lespedeza Stalks. In alkaline peroxide procedure, four factors were compared to evaluate the lignin removal: substrate concentration (w/w), the ratio of peroxide to substrate (w/w), temperature and time. The remaining lignin of fractions from Lespedeza stalks steam pretreated at low severity was apparently reduced by post treatment with 1 g H2O2/g substrate at the substrate concentration of 1.67% under 60°C for 72h. Scanning electron microscopy images show that the samples with alkaline peroxide treatment have the smoother surface because of the elimination of lignin droplets and the fiber bundles individualized.