Research Articles

Today, petroleum-based superabsorbents are widely used, but interest in renewable alternatives is on the rise. This study presents two wood-based absorbent materials suitable for various absorption applications as an alternative to petroleum-based products. Never-dried bleached kraft pulp was treated with TEMPO-oxidation, and new carboxylate and aldehyde groups were introduced. It was found that the aldehyde groups contributed to the wet integrity of the absorbent materials, possibly by the formation of hemiacetal bonds. After oxidation, the pulp fibers were gradually disintegrated, and size analysis showed that the disintegration rate was enhanced by an increase in the charge of the oxidant. Freeze drying produced a porous foam with a large surface area that enabled a rapid absorption rate as well as a reasonably high absorption capacity even for absorption under load. Air drying formed a compact film with a slow absorption rate but with a high final capacity for absorption.

Laboratory-scale agglomeration experiments followed by image analysis were used to evaluate the effectiveness of different cationic surfactants on the 1-octadecanol agglomeration of a negatively charged laser toner. Various types of surfactants with different geometric structures were investigated. It was found that this toner became agglomerated under neutral pulping conditions, but it did not agglomerate under alkaline conditions at all. A small amount of the cationic surfactant compensated for the agglomeration disruption caused by the negative surface charge of the toner and made this toner agglomerate very well. These cationic surfactants consist of a chemical structure of C12 to C18 saturated alkyl hydrophobic chains. The positive charge of these surfactants played the major role in alleviating agglomeration disruption. Additionally, an extra phenol group on these surfactants contributed only minor advantages for toner agglomeration in the presence of 1-octadecanol. The best co-agglomeration performance occurred within a very narrow range of similar total positive charge densities based on the total toner weight. It was also found that this positive charge effect could not be applied to the chemical compounds of high molecular weight polymeric materials.

The morphological changes of jack pine (Pinus banksiama) earlywood (EW) and latewood (LW) in thermomechanical pulping (TMP) were studied by light microscopy and scanning electronic microscopy. The results indicate that: under the mechanical forces in refining, the EW fibres tend to separate in the P/S1 interface, while separation of the LW fibres takes place commonly in the P/S1 and S1/S2 regions. The thick-walled LW fibres exhibit much more external fibrillation than the thin-walled EW. As a result, the LW fines contain more fibrillar component than EW fines. The EW fibers suffer more fiber cutting and splitting than the LW fibers. In addition, the thin-walled EW fibres show higher collapsibility and conformability than the LW counterparts.

Cationized birch xylan was prepared and its use as a papermaking chemical was evaluated. The focus was on studying the effects of cationized birch xylan on the wet and dry strength of fine paper. The results of the laboratory experiments show that the addition of 3 percent of cationized birch xylan to birch kraft pulp improved the initial wet strength of the web by 30 percent compared to base stock at a solids content of 55%. Furthermore, the tensile stiffness of the wet web increased by approximately a third and the dry tensile strength improved by 26%, while the dry elastic modulus was not changed. The improvements in the strength properties were clear when compared to the base stock, but not as high as achieved with conventionally used cationized starch. The difference between the xylan and starch is most likely due to the shorter polymer chain length of the cationized xylan.

Desorption and adsorption cycles result in dimensional changes of wood. The shrinkage and swelling of wood components are accompanied by the forming and breaking of bonds at sorption sites of water molecules. These processes may lead to some reorganization of the wood ultrastructure. The traditionally applied crystallographic descriptors, i.e. the mean microfibril angle and crystallinity, are unable to quantify such ultrastructural changes. The crystallographic texture analysis was performed to account for the reorganization of wood ultrastructure during the cyclic sorption. The Orientation Distribution Function (ODF) was separately calculated for the selected sorption cycles. Inverse pole figures, texture index, crystalline volume fraction, and integrated skeleton lines of the ODF made a set of crystallographic descriptors used to study the ultrastructural changes within this study. The registered reorganization of the ultrastructure was manifested in changes of the intensities of the individual texture components, including the disappearance of some components. However, the texture index, being the global measure of the crystallographic texture, was practically constant during the cycling sorption.

The paper industry has taken various steps to address environmental concerns and raw material limitations. Among them, paper recycling has been shown to be a viable option. In this study, the alkaline sulfite pulping of old corrugated containers (OCC) to produce bleachable pulp was investigated. A combination of one of the three active alkali levels (14, 16, and 18%; Na2O, and oven-dry weight of OCC); one of two pulping temperatures (145 and 175ºC), and one of two pulping times (60 and 120 minutes) and sodium sulfite to sodium hydroxide ratio of 30/70 (mol/mol) were examined. After preliminary pulping and evaluation, pulp with a kappa number of 18.3 and brightness of 50.2%, which was produced applying 18% active alkali, sodium sulfite to sodium hydroxide ratio of 30:70, and pulping time and temperature of 120 minutes and 175ºC, respectively, having the yield of 64.0% (based on oven dry weight of washed OCC) and 72.7% (based on original weight of the OCC as received), respectively, was selected for totally chlorine free (TCF) bleaching trials. Brightness, opacity, tensile, and tear strength indices of this pulp were measured as 50.2%, 81.4%, 27.7 N.m/g, and 12.35 mN.m2/g, respectively. Bleaching of this pulp applying 3% H2O2 and 2.25% NaOH at 90 minutes generated bleached pulp with brightness and opacity as 57.1% and 78.2%, respectively. The bleaching yield was measured as 92%. Tensile and tear strength indices of this pulp were measured as 25.1 Nm/g and 12.4 mN.m2/g, respectively.

Cellulose-graft-poly (L-lactide) (cellulose-g-PLLA) was prepared under homogeneous mild conditions. Ring-opening polymerization (ROP) was carried out successfully using 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) as an organic catalyst in an ionic liquid 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AmimCl). The structure of the polymer was characterized by GPC, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, FT-IR, TGA, WAXD, and AFM. The results indicated that the grafting rate of the polymer reached 4.44, which was higher than that reported in AmimCl with Sn(oct)2 as a catalyst. In addition, AFM showed that the polymer in solution could aggregate and self-assemble into an approximately spherical structure, which was different from the rod-like structure of cellulose and round-like polylactic acid particles.

Wood flour-high density polyethylene (HDPE) composites were prepared to investigate the effects of ammonium polyphosphate based fire retardant content (2, 4, 6, 8, and 10-wt%), on the flammability, mechanical, and morphological properties of the wood flour-HDPE composites in this study. Cone calorimetry analysis showed that the addition of fire retardant could decrease the heat release rate (HRR) and total smoke release of wood flour-HDPE composites, while it had no obviously effects on effective heat of combustion. Most of the decrease of the HRR occurred with the concentration of the fire retardant up to 4-wt%. With addition of fire retardant, the composites showed a decrease in tensile elongation at break and impact strength, and had no obvious effect on tensile and flexural strength. The scanning electron microscopy observation on the fracture surface of the composites indicated that fire retardant had a uniform dispersion in the wood flour-HDPE composites. However, interfacial bonding would be suggested to improve in wood flour-HDPE composites with ammonium polyphosphate based fire retardant.

In this study, the relationship between the properties of the wood and kraft pulp fibers as well as paper characteristics of 27-year-old trees, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), was assessed. All trees had been grown in Latvia, within the same forest type, Myrtillosa. Wood density, year ring width, chemical composition and cross-sectional cell wall dimensions were measured. Fiber characteristics were determined, and handsheets were made for all samples from unbeaten kraft pulp. The results showed that the amount of latewood had a positive correlation with wood density for both species and with further positive impact on the paper burst index. Also, slight differences in cross-sectional dimensions were observed. Lodgepole pine provided paper with higher burst strength than Scots pine. Since the former is of higher density, less wood per volume is needed to produce a ton of pulp, and results showed a higher pulp yield in the case of lodgepole pine.

The effect of superheated steam treatment on oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) was investigated in terms of physicochemical property changes and enzymatic hydrolysis enhancement. The experimental treatment was carried out at different temperatures (140-210°C) and durations (20-90 min). Results showed that as the superheated steam temperature and time increased, the size distribution also changed, resulting in more small particles. Analysis on the surface texture, color, and mechanical properties of the treated OPEFB also showed that significant changes resulted due to the superheated steam treatment. In support to this, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric (TG) analyses showed that solubilization and removal of the hemicelluloses component also took place. As a result of this phenomenon, higher total sugar and glucose yield was achieved once the treated OPEFB was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis. This suggests that superheated steam treatment could enhance OPEFB structure degradation for the preparation of a suitable substrate in order to produce a higher glucose yield in the enzymatic hydrolysis process.