Depolymerization of cellulose during cold acidic chlorite treatment

• Published in: Holzforschung Vol. 69; no. 6; pp. 731 - 736
• Main Authors: Mortha, Gérard, Marcon, Jennifer, Dallérac, David, Marlin, Nathalie, Vallée, Christophe, Charon, Nadège, Le Masle, Agnès
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin De Gruyter 01.08.2015; Walter de Gruyter GmbH
• Subjects: cellulose; cellulose tricarbanilate; Chemical Sciences; chlorite treatment; Engineering Sciences; holocellulose; hydrodynamic radius; light-scattering; molar mass distribution; Other; size exclusion chromatography; viscosimetry; wood pulps; Cellulose tricarbanilate; Size exclusion chromatography; Hydrodynamic radius; Lightscattering; Chlorite treatment; Cellulose; Wood pulps; Viscosimetry; Molar mass distribution; Holocellulose
• ISSN: 0018-3830; 1437-434X
• DOI: 10.1515/hf-2014-0270

A cold holocellulose treatment (cHolT) was studied on a bleached kraft pulp (BKP) of Eucalyptus to observe the degradation of polysaccharides in pulp by chlorite at room temperature under conditions of slightly acidic pH and high chlorine charge (313% of active chlorine on BKP). Based on literature data, cellulose depolymerization is expectable by chlorite treatments at 70°C and reinforced chlorite charge, while the addition of dissolved lignin could protect cellulose. In the present study, polysaccharide degradation was followed by TAPPI viscosity, size-exclusion chromatography coupled to multidetectors, pulp yield, kappa number, elemental sugar analysis of pulps, and total organic carbon detection in filtrates. cHolTs were repeated several times without significant polysaccharide degradation, but the insertion of a caustic extraction stage at 70°C induced little degradation. This study opens the way to the setup of inert delignification procedures to be applied on raw or processed lignocellulosic samples from biorefinery studies.