Research Articles

Wheat straw (an agricultural by-product) was pulped by an alkaline anthraquinone (AQ) process. Then the straw pulp was treated by high-power ultrasound under different noble-gas (argon, krypton, xenon) combinations. The pulps’ degree of beating and acid-insoluble lignin content were measured. Handsheets were made from sonicated and control pulps and tested for paper tensile strength. In this study we explore which noble-gas combination with ultrasound may be more useable to reduce the lignin content and enhance fibrillation. We also describe the most effective ultrasound-assisted, modified alkaline pulping process. Overall, we found that in two steps ultrasonification decreased the residual lignin contents more then 75 %, the pulp fibrillation increased from 12 to 70 °SR within 20 min. of ultrasound irradiation, and the tensile index of the handsheets increased by 65%. For sustainable paper production, it is required to develop alternative paper resources. Paper made from alternate fiber resources with efficient technology will improve our living standards without sacrificing the environment, our habitat. High frequency ultrasound-based pulp processing offers significant improvements, and it reduces energy and chemical consumptions for pulp and paper production.

Two infrabony defects (i.e. defects in tooth supporting bone that extend into the body of the bone) in different sites in the same individual were treated surgically. Tissue regeneration was incorporated into the surg-ical procedures using a different material in each site (oxidized cellulose mesh and bioglass). The post surgical radiographic appearance showed increasing calcification in both sites that was not complete even at 15 months after placement. The radiographic appearance of both sites was similar but calcification was observed above the crest of alveolar bone in the oxidized cellulose mesh site that was not present with bioglass site. As calcification did not appear to be complete by 15 months after place-ment and it did not resemble true bone in either site, it would appear that the regenerative process was not yet complete by this time. Bone regeneration may therefore progress slowly over a protracted period of time after placement. Some evidence is present that oxidized cellulose mesh may have enhanced regenerative capacity by comparison to other synthetic bone regeneration materials such as hydroxyapatite and bioglass. No conclusions could be drawn from this single case study and further work is necessary to confirm and investigate these observations more fully.

The effects of time, acid concentration, temperature and solid concentra-tion on dilute-acid hydrolysis of orange peels were investigated. A central composite rotatable experimental design (CCRD) was applied to study the individual effects of these hydrolysis factors and also their inter-dependence effects. The enzymatic hydrolysis of the peels by cellulase, β-glucosidase, and pectinase enzymes resulted in 72% dissolution of the peels, including 18.7% galacturonic acid and 53.3% of a total of glucose, fructose, galactose, and arabinose. Dilute-acid hydrolysis up to 210°C was not able to hydrolyze pectin to galacturonic acid. However, the sugar polymers were hydrolyzed at relatively low temperature. The optimum results were obtained at 116°C, 0.5% sulfuric acid concentration, 6% solid fraction, and 12.9 min retention time. Under these conditions, the total sugars obtained at 41.8% dry peels and 2.6% of total hexose sugars were further degraded to hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). No furfural was detected through these experiments from decomposition of pentoses.

A humic acid-like substance (cHAL2) isolated from urban green wastes before composting was compared to a humic acid-like substance (cHAL) isolated from a mix of urban organic humid waste fraction and green residues composted for 15 days. cHAL2 was found to contain more aliphatic and O-alkyl C atoms relative to aromatic, phenol, and carboxyl C atoms, and to yield higher critical micellar concentration (cmc = 0.97 g L-1) and surface tension at the cmc (gcmc = 37.8 mN/m) in water than cHAL (cmc = 0.40 g L-1; gcmc = 36.1 mN/m). The results point out that biomass wastes may be an interesting source of biosurfactants with diversified properties that depend on the nature of waste and on its process of treatment.

Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) wood has low dimensional stability and durability. Heat treatment was made in an oven using hot air during 2 to 24 h and at 170-200 ºC. A comparison was made against steam heat treatment. The equilibrium moisture content and the dimensional stability (ASE) in radial and tangential directions were evaluated at 35%, 65%, and 85% relative humidity. MOE, bending strength and wettability were also determined. At the same mass loss, improvements of equilibrium moisture content and dimensional stability were higher for oven heat treatment, but the same was true for mechanical strength degradation. A 50% decrease in hemicellulose content led to a similar decrease in bending strength.

Enzymes have the potential to provide an improved method to ret flax for textile fibers. Retting is the separation or loosening of fiber bundles from the cuticularized epidermis and the woody core cells. New commercial pectinase products were evaluated both with and without ethylene-diaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) for retting efficiency. The Fried Test identified the most efficient enzymes and best retting conditions. All enzymes retted flax stems better in the presence of 18 mM EDTA. Pectinases that also contained cellulases reduced fiber strength, whereas those without cellulases effectively retted flax without substan-tial strength loss. Viscozyme, which has been used extensively in our enzyme-retting research, and several pectinolytic enzymes were compared in pilot plant scale tests. Texazym BFE and Bioprep 3000 L retted flax as well as Viscozyme in this system, and the fibers had higher tenacity. The monocomponent nature, commercial availability and price, and ability to ret flax in combination with EDTA at high pH indicated a potential advantage for Bioprep 3000 L in these tests. Retting with different enzymes and formulations resulted in fibers with different properties, thereby leading to protocols for tailored fiber characteristics.

Macro- and crystalline structure, as well as chemical composition of fibers related to various types and sorts of Israeli cottons, both white and naturally colored, were investigated. The differences in structural parameters and chemical compositions of the cotton fibers were eval-uated. Samples of cotton of the “Pima”-type had long, thin and strong fibers with highly ordered supermolecular structure. Fibers of middle-long and hybrid cottons had some lower-ordered structural organization in comparison to long-length cotton, while fibers of naturally colored cotton were characterized with disordered supermolecular and crystalline structure. Dependence of tensile strength on orientation of nano-fibrils towards the fiber axis was found. Conditions of cellulose isolation from the different cotton fibers were studied. Structural characteristics of isolated cotton celluloses and obtained MCC are discussed.

The improvement of mechanical properties of spruce galactogluco-mannan (GGM)-based films was sought by blending GGM with each of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH), corn arabinoxylan (cAX), and konjac glucomannan (KGM). The blend ratios were 3:1, 1:1, and 1:3 (w/w), and in addition films were made from each of the polymers alone. Glycerol was used as plasticizer. Adding other polymers increased the elongation at break of GGM blend films. The tensile strength of films increased with increasing amount of PVOH and KGM, but the effect of cAX was the opposite. Dynamic mechanical analysis showed two separate loss modulus peaks for blends of GGM and PVOH, but a single peak for all other films. Optical and scanning electron microscopy confirmed good miscibility of GGM with cAX and KGM. In contrast, films blended from GGM and PVOH showed phase separation when examined by microscopy.

This study examines the properties of cellulosic fibrillar fines manufactured from different pulp raw materials, bleached softwood kraft (BSWK), thermomechanical pulp (TMP), and non-wood sisal. Chemical characterisation showed that the carbohydrate and lignin contents of sisal were between those of BSWK and TMP. Sisal was found to contain about three times more calcium than showed that the solids content after immobilization was highest for the sisal suspension, followed by TMP and BSWK. This indicates that the dewatering ability of the fines suspension increased in the order BSWK, TMP and sisal. The loss modulus (G'') was maxmium with BSWK, indicating that the greatest viscous dissipation before immobilisation took place in the BSWK suspension. The strength properties of fines sheets decreased in the order BSWK, TMP and sisal. This is due to the highly fibrillated nature of BSWK fines, as illustrated by fibre saturation point (FSP), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC), and hydrodynamic specific volume (HSV) measurements.

Milled southern pine wood was modified with sequential treatments of sodium periodate and sodium hypobromite for the purpose of improving copper ion (Cu2+) sorption capacity of the wood when tested in 24-h equilibrium batch tests. The modified wood provided additional carboxyl groups to those in the native wood and substantially increased Cu2+ uptake over that of unmodified wood. Sorption capacity (qe) measured with an unbuffered standard solution increased to a maximum of 7.8 mg Cu2+ ion per gram of wood (treated) from 3.1 mg Cu2+ ion/g wood (untreated). Samples tested were first sodium ion exchanged to keep the pH of the standard solution from declining during the sorption test. The treatment necessary for maximum qe was 3% (w/v) periodate for 24 h and 0.8% (w/v) bromine (as hypobromite) for 24 h; both treatments were at room temperature. These conditions corresponded to the maximum periodate concentration and treatment times tested. To further evaluate the efficacy of modification treatments, weight change after each treatment was determined. Weight loss after the periodate stage for any concentration and time used was minor, indicating the selective nature of this reaction. However, most of the weight loss was incurred after hypobromite treatment. Weight loss corresponding to the greatest increase in sorption capacity was 12.6% total from the combined periodate and hypobromite stages. The increase of carboxylate functional groups in the wood was monitored using FTIR/ATR spectroscopy.