Atmospheric Pulping of Non-woody Fibers, 1999 Pulping Conference Proceedings

Takanori Nomura, Makoto Takada, Masato Oka, Hirokazu Matsubara, Taketoshi Ohira and Shunichi Shinagawa

Gifu Prefectural Research Institute of Industrial Product Technology

Due to the global environment concerns, utilization of non-woody fiber resources has become a major focus in pulp and paper production. The preparation of pulps from plant fibers normally requires the use of an autoclave for the fiberization and delignification processes. This research concerns the development of a pulping process, suitable for various non-woody fibers such as Manila hemp, sisal, jute and some other non-woody fibers, which can be performed under atmospheric pressure. In this process, the well-known bleaching agent chlorine dioxide was used as main chemicals to delignify the fibers, without the use of autoclave. The cooking conditions were milder than the methods used in the kraft and sulfite pulping processes, and subsequently resulted in pulps with higher yields and enhanced physical properties.