Process modifications to obtain a prehydrolysis kraft dissolving pulp with low limiting pulp viscosity

Cellulose can be directly dissolved in cold alkali without derivatization. However, this requires low cellulose molecular weight, i. e. low pulp viscosity, preferably below 300 mL g−1. This can be achieved by for example acid or enzymatic hydrolysis of the dissolving pulp. However, it would be beneficial to manufacture pulp with sufficiently low viscosity without an additional treatment stage prior to dissolution. Unit processes in pulping can be operated in such a way as to reduce the molecular weight of cellulose. The approach of the study was to modify the conditions in unit pulping processes in order to obtain a low pulp viscosity of fully bleached prehydrolysis kraft pulp. A high charge of alkali in the oxygen delignification reduced the cellulose molecular weight significantly. Increased temperature, 120 °C compared to 98 °C, had also a significant effect on viscosity. By performing peroxide bleaching at acidic pH, the viscosity could be sufficiently reduced even when oxygen delignification was performed at lower temperature. However, for high brightness, a chlorine dioxide stage is needed.

Understanding the effect of severity factor of prehydrolysis on dissolving pulp production using prehydrolysis kraft pulping and elemental chlorine-free bleaching sequence

Prehydrolysis kraft pulping is an effective approach to produce dissolving pulp, which can be used for viscose application. The prehydrolysis process using hot liquid water could remove hemicellulose and loosen the compact cell wall, thus facilitating subsequent pulping and bleaching processes. In this study, the composite severity factor (CSF) was used to reveal the intensity of prehydrolysis treatment and its effect on the pulping and bleaching process by combining the temperature, time, and pH variables. Results showed that the optimum CSF was 6.61, which produced a pulp with α-cellulose of 92.3%, degree of polymerization (DP) of 1081, brightness of 85.1% ISO, and Kappa number of 0.61. In addition, the fiber quality, crystalline structure, and microstructure of pulps were characterized by FQA (fiber quality analysis), XRD (X-ray diffraction), and SEM (scanning electron microscopy).

Prehydrolysis kraft pulping of jute cutting and caddis mixture for rayon production

Jute cutting, jute caddis, and cutting-caddis mixtures were prehydrolyzed by varying time and temperature to get about 90% prehydrolyzed yield. At the conditions of 170°C for 60 min of prehydrolysis, the yield for 100% jute cutting was 76.3%, while the same for jute caddis was only 67.9%. But with prehydrolysis at 150°C for 60 min, the yield was 90% for jute cutting, where 49.94% of original pentosan was dissolved and prehydrolysis of jute caddis at 140°C in 60 min yielded 86.4% solid residue. Jute cutting-caddis mixed prehydrolysis was done at 140°C for 30 min and yielded 92% solid residue for 50:50 cutting-caddis mixtures, where pentosan dissolution was only 29%. Prehydrolyzed jute cutting, jute caddis, and cutting-caddis mixtures were subsequently kraft cooked. Pulp yield was only 40.9% for 100% jute cutting prehydrolyzed at 170°C for 60 min, which was 10.9% lower than the prehydrolysis at 140°C. For jute cutting-caddis mixed prehydrolysis at 140°C for 45 min followed by kraft cooking, pulp yield decreased by 3.3% from the 100% cutting to 50% caddis in the mixture, but 75% caddis in the mixture decreased pulp yield by 6.7%. The kappa number 50:50 cutting-caddis mixture was only 11.3. Pulp bleachability improved with increasing jute cutting proportion in the cutting-caddis mixture pulp.

PENGGUNAAN XILANASE PADA PEMUTIHAN DISSOLVING PULP Acacia crassicarpa

The use of xylanase in pulp bleaching process is intended to reduce chemicals consumption in pulp industry that still using chlorine compounds (chlorine dioxide), so the bleaching stage needs to be modified without reducing the quality of dissolving pulp. Dissolving pulp was produced from six-year-old Acacia crassicarpa as raw material by the Prehydrolysis-Kraft process, then the pulp was bleached with the ECF (elemental chlorine free) process using xylanase (X) and oxygen (O) as comparison at the early stage of bleaching. The sequences of process include X/ODEDED (xylanase or oxygen; chlorine dioxide; extraction-1; chlorine dioxide-1; extraction-2; chlorine dioxide -2). Results showed that the dissolving pulp with active alkali of 22%, sulphidity of 30%, the temperature of 165oC, and the ratio of 1:4 is the optimal condition. Cellulose content, viscosity and brightness were above 94%, 6.2 cP and 88% ISO, respectively.The dissolving pulp produced with the application of xylanase has better quality than the oxygen one, and meets the requirement according to Indonesia National Standard (SNI 0938:2010, pulp rayon).Keywords: Acacia crassicarpa, xylanase, Prehydrolysis-Kraft, dissolving pulp, rayon pulpABSTRAKPenggunaan xilanase pada proses pemutihan pulp dimaksudkan untuk mengurangi konsumsi bahan kimia yang digunakan selama ini di industri pulp, yang masih menggunakan senyawa klorin (klorin dioksida), untuk itu perlu dilakukan modifikasi pada tahap pemutihannya tanpa mengurangi kualitas dissolving pulp yang dihasilkan. Pembuatan dissolving pulp dilakukan menggunakan bahan baku kayu Acacia crassicarpa berumur 6 tahun dengan proses Prahidrolisa–Kraft, selanjutnya pulp diputihkan dengan proses ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free) menggunakan xilanase (X) dan oksigen (O) sebagai pembanding pada awal pemutihan dengan 6 tahapan proses, yaitu X/ODEDED (xilanase atau oksigen; klorin dioksida; ekstraksi-1; klorin dioksida-1; ekstraksi-2; klorin dioksida-2) dengan perlakuan oksigen sebagai pembanding. Hasil pembuatan dissolving pulp dengan alkali aktif 22%, sulfiditas 30%, suhu 165oC, rasio 1:4 adalah kondisi yang optimal. Kandungan selulosa, viskositas dan derajat cerah yang diperoleh masing-masing yaitu di atas 94%, 6,2 cP dan 88% ISO. Kualitas dissolving pulp hasil pemutihan dengan penambahan xilanase lebih tinggi daripada menggunakan oksigen dan memenuhi persyaratan spesifikasi SNI 0938:2010, pulp rayon. Kata kunci : Acacia crassicarpa, xilanase, Prahidrolisa-Kraft, dissolving pulp, pulp rayon