Cellulose Pulp from Mulberry Branch Bark for the Paper Industry

Uzbekistan is bare of forests and it takes the fifth place in the world in terms of cotton production, and the third place in terms of silk production after China and India. According to the government program the expansion of the land area for mulberry plantations boosts the growth of silk production causing an increase in the total amount of wastes, i.e. branches of mulberry trees industrially useless after the removal of leaves. Their use as a raw material for the cellulose pulp production is relevant, since it is aimed at solving not only the resource, but also the environmental problem. The bark was cut off from the mulberry branches and soaked in water for some time after which its exterior hard layer was scraped off and divided into the rough exterior layer and the softer inner layer. The inner layer was boiled for several hours. The boiled bast, after washing with water, was grinded in a laboratory grinding machine under the following conditions: mass concentration – 1 %, temperature – 22 °С. A given amount of lint cotton cellulose (grinding degree – 45 °SR) was added to the grinded bast. Paper molds with the mass of 80 g/m2 were obtained in laboratory conditions using a sheet-making apparatus. It was found out that the obtained paper that contains cotton cellulose pulp and inner layer of mulberry branch bark has low whiteness which depends on whiteness of the added fibers. It has been established that adding the cellulose pulp of the inner layer of mulberry branch bark at a grinding degree of 30 °SR contributes to the production of strong paper. It is recommended to add up to 30 % of cellulose pulp from the inner layer of mulberry branch bark to paper pulp as further addition adversely affects the paper whiteness.For citation: Babakhanova Kh.A., Galimova Z.K., Abdunazarov M.M., Ismailov I.I. Cellulose Pulp from Mulberry Branch Bark for the Paper Industry. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2020, no. 5, pp. 193–200. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2020-5-193-200