Oxygen Delignification Chemistry and Its Impact on Pulp Fibers

Abstract

Two southern pine kraft pulps with kappa numbers of 30.0 (SW1-0) and 48.0 (SW2-0) were oxygen delignified by 30–60% by varying the reaction temperature (78–110°C) and charge of sodium hydroxide (1.6–4.4%). O-bleachability was found to be correlated to the incoming kappa number and charge of sodium hydroxide employed. In general, a lower charge of caustic and a higher brownstock kappa number improved pulp bleachability. The residual lignin in the brownstocks and O-delignified kraft pulp samples was isolated and characterized by ¹³C and ³¹P NMR. ¹³C NMR analysis of the residual lignin samples indicated that the post-oxygen delignified pulps were enriched with α-carbonyl groups and carboxylic acid groups. The content of β-O-aryl structures was increased by 23–36% depending on the extent of oxygen delignification. The post-oxygen delignified pulps were also shown to have increased substituted aryl carbons. ³¹P NMR indicated that the relative content of condensed phenolic units increased by 9–20% after the oxygen delignification, depending on the severity of the O-stage. This observation was probably due to the accumulation or formation of 5,5-biphenyl structures in the process. The physical strength properties of brownstock and post-oxygen delignified pulps were assessed in terms of zero-span strength, tensile strength, tear strength, and burst strength. Oxygen delignification led to a slight increase in the curls and kinks of the pulp fibers. The O-stage was shown to cause a 4.8–15.6% decrease in zero-span strength. In contrast, oxygen delignification increased tensile strength. This result could be explained as the improvement of fiber bonding after the oxygen bleaching.

Keywords:

• Lignin
• Oxygen delignification
• NMR
• Phenolics
• Strength

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the member companies of the Institute of Paper Science and Technology for their support of this research. This manuscript was prepared, in part, with the support of DOE Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FC07-00ID13870. However, any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of DOE. AJR also wishes to acknowledge the assistance C. Burney has provided him throughout his research career at IPST.