Biorefining of Scots pine using neutral sodium sulphite pulping: investigation of fibre and spent liquor compositions

Saara Hanhikoski (Corresponding Author), Klaus Niemelä, Tapani Vuorinen

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    5 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Neutral sulphite pulping of softwood as a potential biorefinery was investigated, by producing pulps at two main yield levels (55–65% and 75–85%) under various process conditions and by analysing the composition of the resulting fibre fractions and pulping spent liquors. It was found that both delignification rate and selectivity were enhanced by addition of anthraquinone (AQ 0.1% on o.d. wood) whereas delignification was accelerated by higher temperature (180 °C vs. 170 °C) and initial liquor pH (10 vs. 7). The established conditions preserved significant amount of carbohydrates, especially galactoglucomannan, in the fibres at the selected yield levels. At the yield level of 65%, still over 60% of galactoglucomannan was detected in the pulps whereas 50–70% of lignin was removed. In the spent liquors, lignosulphonates as the principal component represented the possible source of by-product in addition to acetic and formic acids.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)135-141
    JournalIndustrial Crops and Products
    Volume129
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Mar 2019
    MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

    Funding

    Financial support for this research from Academy of Finland (grant number 270756) and The Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion is highly acknowledged.

    Keywords

    • Anthraquinone
    • Galactoglucomannan
    • Neutral sulfite pulping
    • Sulfite spent liquor
    • Softwood

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