Research Articles

The aim of this study was to evaluate the possibilities for chemical consumption reduction in P-P-Paa-P bleaching (P alkaline peroxide stage, Paa peracetic stage) of hot water treated straw and the effect of the wheat straw variability on the process. Papermaking fibre production from wheat straw using such a process could be implemented on a small scale if chemical consumption was low enough to eliminate the need for chemical recovery. The pulp properties obtained with this process are equal to or even superior to the properties of wheat straw soda pulp. The possibility of enhancing the first peroxide stage with oxygen and pressure was studied. The possibility for substitution of sodium hydroxide partially with sodium carbonate was also investigated. The objective was to achieve International Standardization Organization (ISO) brightness of 75%, with minimal sodium hydroxide consumption, whilst maintaining the pulp properties. The optimization of the peroxide bleaching is challenging if the final brightness target cannot be reduced. Results indicate that up to 25% of the sodium hydroxide could be substituted with sodium carbonate without losing brightness or affecting pulp properties. Another possibility is a mild alkali treatment between the hot water treatment and the bleaching sequence.

The characteristics of enzymatic/mild acidolysis lignin (EMAL) isolated from moso bamboo were investigated using pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). Pyrolysis temperature as a factor on products was studied, and the pyrolysis mechanism was inferred with respect to the dominating products. Research results showed that pyrolysis products derived from EMAL pyrolysis were mainly heterocyclic (2,3-dihydrobenzofuran), phenols, esters, and a minor amount of acetic acid. Pyrolysis temperature had a distinct impact on yields of pyrolysis products. As pyrolysis temperature increased, the yield of 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran rapidly decreased; however, yields of phenols increased smoothly. It can be obtained that, at the low temperatures (250-400oC), pyrolysis products were mainly 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran, and the highest yield was 66.26% at 320oC; at the high temperatures (400-800oC), pyrolysis products were mainly phenols, and yields hit their highest level of 56.43% at 600 oC. A minor amount of acetic acid only emerged at 800°C. Knowledge of pyrolysis products releasing from EMAL and the pyrolysis mechanism could be basic and essential to the understanding of thermochemical conversion of EMAL to chemicals or high-grade energy.

The biosorption of Cr(VI) from synthetic solutions and electroplating wastewater using the fruit shell of gulmohar has been investigated in a batch system. The effects of various parameters such as pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage, and initial concentration of Cr(VI) on the biosorption process were studied. The complete removal of Cr(VI) was observed at pH < 3.0. Studies indicated that both biosorption and bioreduction were involved in the removal of Cr(VI). The sorption equilibrium exhibited a better fit to the Langmuir isotherm than the Freundlich isotherm. The maximum biosorption capacity of fruit shell of gulmohar to remove Cr(VI) was 12.28 mg/g. A kinetic model of pseudo-second order provided a good description of the experimental data as compared to a pseudo-first order kinetic model. The sorption rate was found to be dependent on the initial concentration of Cr(VI) and biomaterials dosage. The study showed that the abundant and inexpensive fruit shell of gulmohar biosorbent has a potential application in the removal of Cr(VI) from electroplating wastewater and its conversion into less or non-toxic Cr (III).

In this study rice husk reinforced polyethylene composites and their test specimens were manufactured using a single screw extruder and an injection molding machine, respectively. Raw rice husk was chemically treated with benzene diazonium salt in alkali, acidic, and neutral media, in order to improve in the mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of the composites prepared from alkaline media treated rice husk were found to increase substantially compared to those of acidic media, neutral media, and untreated ones. However, the values for the alkaline media treated rice husk-PE composites at all mixing ratios were found to be higher than those of treated acidic media, treated neutral media, and untreated rice husk composites respectively. The SEM micrographs reveal that interfacial bonding between the treated filler and the matrix has significantly improved, suggesting that better dispersion of the filler into the matrix was achieved upon treatment of rice husk. Based on filler loading, 35% filler reinforced composites had the optimum set of mechanical properties among all composites manufactured.

Bleaching of soda-anthraquinone jute pulp by chlorine dioxide (ClO2) was studied to reach a target brightness of above 88% for the purpose of using less bleaching chemicals. The performance of either chlorine dioxide or peroxide in the final bleaching to boost brightness was also studied. The experimental results revealed that the final brightness depended on ClO2 charge in the Do and D1 stages. The brightness reversion was lower when the final stage brightening was done by peroxide. The use of Mg(OH)2 in the D1 and D2 stages improved the final brightness due to the formation of less chlorate and chlorite during the Mg(OH)2- based ClO2 brightening stages. The strength properties of pulp bleached by peroxide in the final stage was slightly better than that from ClO2 as the final ClO2 bleaching stage.

Investigation of last stage bleaching with peracetic acid is the main subject of this paper. Proper conditions were established to apply peracetic acid as the last bleaching stage of the D(Ep)D/Paa, DHT(Ep)D/Paa, A/D(Ep)D/Paa, DHT/Q(PO)Paa and Z/ED/Paa sequences. In addition, the impact of last stage bleaching with Paa on pulp refinability and strength properties was determined. Peracetic acid was consumed relatively fast when applied as the last stage of ECF bleaching sequences. A reaction time of 120 min at 75 oC and pH 5.0 is seemingly adequate regardless of the Paa dose, in the range of 1-5 kg/odt pulp and bleaching sequence. The optimum dose of Paa depends upon the sequence under investigation. In general the Paa application as last bleaching stage caused slight decrease in pulp viscosity, kappa number and HexA content but had no significant effect on pulp reversion and L*a*b* coordinates. The refinability and bonding strength properties of the pulps bleached with the sequences DHT(Ep)DD and DHT(Ep)D/Paa were quite similar when the pH of the last bleaching stage of both sequences were near 5. These properties improved slightly when Paa bleaching pH was raised to 8.5.

The influences of pulp type, content of acidic groups (i.e., sulfonic and carboxylic groups) in CTMP, kappa number (i.e., residual lignin content) of unbleached kraft pulp, and beating degree of bleached kraft pulp on the conductivity of polyaniline (PAn)-coated conductive paper were investigated. The amounts of PAn coated on chemical pulps were higher than those coated on high yield pulps, and the surface resistivities of conductive papers prepared from chemical pulps were lower than those prepared from high yield pulps. As the substrates for the production of PAn-coated conductive paper, bleached chemical pulps were better than unbleached chemical pulps. The conductivity had a significant positive linear correlation with the amount of PAn coated. The amount of PAn coated increased with increasing content of sulfonic groups in CTMP or decreasing kappa number of unbleached kraft pulp. We hypothesized that this might be associated with the ionizability of acidic groups and the inhibiting effect of lignin on aniline polymerization. The beating degree of pulp seemed to have an insignificant effect on the conductivity of PAn-coated conductive paper. As a whole, the interpretations of the influence of the chemical composition are based on proposed ideas and need to be confirmed by future experimental work.

Bio-oil is a promising alternative source of energy produced from fast pyrolysis of biomass. Increasing the viscosity of bio-oil during storage is a major problem that can be controlled by the addition of methanol or other alcohols. This paper reports the results of our investigation of the reactions of short chain alcohols with aldehydes and acids in bio-oil. The reaction of methanol with hydroxyacetaldehyde (HA) to form the acetal was catalyzed by the addition of 7 x 10-4 M strong acids such as sulfuric, hydrochloric, p-toluene sulfonic acid, and methanesulfonic acid. HA formed 2,2-dimethoxyethanol (DME), and at 60 oC the equilibrium was reached in less than one hour. Smaller amounts of DME were formed in the absence of strong acid. HA, acetaldehyde, and propanal formed their corresponding acetals when reacted with methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol or 1-butanol. Esters of acetic acid and hydroxyacetic acid were observed from reactions with these same four alcohols. Other acetals and esters were observed by GC/MS analysis of the reaction products. The results from accelerated aging experiments at 90 oC suggest that the presence of methanol slows polymerization by formation of acetals and esters from low molecular weight aldehydes and organic acids.

The continual expansion of urbanization and industrial activity has led to the accumulation of a large quantity of lignocellulosic residues throughout the world. In particular, large quantities of paper and bagasse are largely produced in Visakhapatnam. In this work we present the study of the degradability of these substrates with fungi. Three cultures of soil fungi were screened for their ability to degrade cellulose. Aspergillus flavus degraded the most, as shown by the highest CO2 release. Further, Aspergillus flavus was tested with the standard fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium for cellulose degradation, which showed nearly equivalent potential.

Alkaline pretreatment with NaOH under mild operating conditions was used to improve ethanol and biogas production from softwood spruce and hardwood birch. The pretreatments were carried out at different temperatures between minus 15 and 100ºC with 7.0% w/w NaOH solution for 2 h. The pretreated materials were then enzymatically hydrolyzed and subsequently fermented to ethanol or anaerobically digested to biogas. In general, the pretreatment was more successful for both ethanol and biogas production from the hardwood birch than the softwood spruce. The pretreatment resulted in significant reduction of hemicellulose and the crystallinity of cellulose, which might be responsible for improved enzymatic hydrolyses of birch from 6.9% to 82.3% and spruce from 14.1% to 35.7%. These results were obtained with pretreatment at 100°C for birch and 5°C for spruce. Subsequently, the best ethanol yield obtained was 0.08 g/g of the spruce while pretreated at 100°C, and 0.17 g/g of the birch treated at 100°C. On the other hand, digestion of untreated birch and spruce resulted in methane yields of 250 and 30 l/kg VS of the wood species, respectively. The pretreatment of the wood species at the best conditions for enzymatic hydrolysis resulted in 83% and 74% improvement in methane production from birch and spruce.