Fibre porosity development of dissolving pulp during mechanical and enzymatic processing

Dissolving grade pulps are used as raw material for manufacture of regenerated cellulose fibres and their use is constantly growing. Despite intensive research, there is still a need to develop cellulose dissolution-regeneration processes that would be economically viable, fulfil the pre-conditions...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCellulose (London) Vol. 21; no. 5; pp. 3667 - 3676
Main Authors Grönqvist, S., Hakala, T. K., Kamppuri, T., Vehviläinen, M., Hänninen, T., Liitiä, T., Maloney, T., Suurnäkki, A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.10.2014
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Bioorganic Chemistry
Cellulose
Cellulose fibers
Ceramics
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Composites
Dissolution
Glass
Hydrolysis
Natural Materials
Organic Chemistry
Original Paper
Physical Chemistry
Polymer Sciences
Porosity
Regeneration
Shredding
Sodium hydroxide
Sustainable Development
Zinc oxide
Cellulose dissolution
Porosity
Solute exclusion
Dissolving pulp
Enzymatic hydrolysis
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Summary:Dissolving grade pulps are used as raw material for manufacture of regenerated cellulose fibres and their use is constantly growing. Despite intensive research, there is still a need to develop cellulose dissolution-regeneration processes that would be economically viable, fulfil the pre-conditions of sustainability and would be able to meet the strict product quality requirements. The basis for creation of such a process is in deep understanding of the biomass structure and factors affecting the cellulose modification and dissolution. In this paper, the effects of the mechanical and enzymatic pre-treatments on the pore structure and alkaline solubility of dissolving grade pulp are discussed. Formation of micro- and macropores in the pulp fibres during mechanical shredding was found to correlate with the susceptibility of the fibres to enzymatic hydrolysis. The fibre porosity development during the processing was studied by a modified solute exclusion approach, which revealed differences between the effect of mild enzyme or acid hydrolysis on the pore structure of fibres. The dissolution of the modified fibres in NaOH/ZnO was evaluated and found to correlate with overall pore volume and accessible surface area analysed by the modified solute exclusion method.
ISSN:0969-0239
1572-882X
DOI:10.1007/s10570-014-0352-x