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Sodium Carbonate Pulping of Wheat Straw—An Alternative Fiber Source for Various Paper Applications

Authors :
Friedrich Steffen
Tamas Kordsachia
Tobias Heizmann
Maximilian Paul Eckardt
Yue Chen
Bodo Saake
Source :
Agronomy, Vol 14, Iss 1, p 162 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2024.

Abstract

European paper mills are currently facing the question of whether recovered paper, their main raw material, will be available in sufficient quantities and an acceptable quality in the future. An alternative to recovered paper or wood fiber is the use of agricultural residues such as wheat straw. Sodium carbonate-based straw pulping processes have the advantage of not requiring recausticizing for chemical recovery, which reduces investment and operating costs. With the addition of oxygen, delignification can be significantly improved to provide pulps suitable for bleaching. This study compares the pulping of wheat straw using sodium carbonate, sodium carbonate + oxygen, and sodium carbonate + sodium hydroxide + oxygen. Pulping parameters such as temperature, retention time, and chemical charge were varied, and their influence on pulp properties was studied. The use of sodium carbonate alone produced pulps with high yields of up to 72% and comparably high burst and compressive strength. The addition of oxygen and small amounts of sodium hydroxide produced pulps with a high initial brightness of 42 %ISO and a low kappa number (18), still at high pulp yields of 62%. These pulps were two-stage bleached to achieve brightness levels of up to 73 %ISO.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20734395
Volume :
14
Issue :
1
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Agronomy
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.5694d04cb1c84be6abcca10404deecdf
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14010162