APMP Pulps from Non-Wood Fiber Part 2: Jute, 2000 Pulping / Process & Product Quality Conference Proceedings

E. C. Xu--As second part of our investigation series on APMP pulps from non-wood fibers, APMP pulps from jute was investigated. The present paper begins with a brief discussion on some of the advantages of chemical mechanical pulping versus traditional chemical pulping process for non-wood fibers. These include: 1) lower capital/investment cost; 2) small to medium size capacity (50 to 500admt/d), which means less problems with material collection, transportation and storage; and 3) higher degree of flexibility in pulp property development by using different combinations of chemical treatments and refining processes.

The reason for selecting APMP process was discussed and a new APMP process, P-RC APMP, was briefly introduced.

Jute APMP pulp properties were analyzed and compared with that of North American aspen and kenaf APMP pulps. The results showed that the jute APMP pulp had: 1) a better tensile/density, or bulk/tensile, property than aspen APMP or market BCTMP; 2) strength properties comparable to, or better than, hardwood market BCTMP pulps; 3) significantly higher light scattering property than aspen APMP; and 4) a similar intrinsic light scattering property as kenaf APMP pulps, but a better tensile/density property. The whole jute may easily APMP-bleached to 70% ISO or higher brightness without post-bleaching. The comparisons between the jute and aspen APMP pulps suggest that the jute APMP pulp have good potentials for applications such as printing/writing, tissue and paperboard grades.