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Comparison of acid sulfite (AS)- and prehydrolysis kraft (PHK)-based dissolving pulps

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Abstract

The processability and quality of viscose are mainly influenced by the properties of dissolving pulps. Acid sulfite (AS) and prehydrolysis kraft (PHK) are the main commercial processes for the production of dissolving pulps. In this paper, the properties of dissolving pulps obtained from the AS and PHK processes, with respect to purity, molecular weight distribution (MWD), porosity, surface area, accessibility and reactivity, were comparatively evaluated. The results indicated that the PHK pulps had higher α-cellulose, lower S10/S18 content, and narrower MWD than the AS pulps, which can be ascribed to the different reaction mechanisms in the acid and alkaline pulping processes. The traditional parameters (S10/S18, α-cellulose and intrinsic viscosity) were insufficient to evaluate the pulp quality when comparing with dissolving pulps from different pulping processes. The Fock reactivity and the Chinese filterability tests were applied to evaluate their end-use properties in the rayon production process. The AS pulps had better accessibility than the PHK pulps (larger pore size and volume and thinner primary wall), supporting the conclusion that the AS samples exhibited higher reactivity that the PHK samples. The results from the Fock reactivity and Chinese filterability corresponded well.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Canada Research Chairs and NSERC CRD programs, and the Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission (Grant No. 12ZCZDGX01100). The authors also thank Ven Reddy from department of science in University of New Brunswick (UNB) for the XRD measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, China

    Chao Duan, Jianguo Li & Yonghao Ni

  2. Limerick Pulp and Paper Centre, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5A3, Canada

    Chao Duan, Jianguo Li, Xiaojuan Ma, Chunxia Chen, Yishan Liu & Yonghao Ni

  3. College of Material Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China

    Xiaojuan Ma

  4. National Paper Products Quality Supervision Inspection Center, Dongguan Quality Supervision Testing Center, Dongguan, 523808, China

    Chunxia Chen

  5. Institute of Paper Science and Technology, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Zigong, Sichuan, 643000, China

    Yishan Liu

  6. AV Nackawic Inc., Nackawic, NB, E6G 1W4, Canada

    Jaroslav Stavik

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  1. Chao Duan
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  2. Jianguo Li
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  3. Xiaojuan Ma
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  4. Chunxia Chen
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  5. Yishan Liu
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  6. Jaroslav Stavik
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  7. Yonghao Ni
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Correspondence to Yonghao Ni.

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Duan, C., Li, J., Ma, X. et al. Comparison of acid sulfite (AS)- and prehydrolysis kraft (PHK)-based dissolving pulps. Cellulose 22, 4017–4026 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-015-0781-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-015-0781-1

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