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Residual lignin inhibits thermal degradation of cellulosic fiber sheets

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Abstract

The market for cellulosic fiber based food packaging applications is growing together with the importance of improving the thermal durability of these fibers. To shed light on this, we investigated the role of residual lignin in pulp on the thermal stability of refined pulp sheets. The unbleached, oxygen delignified, and fully bleached pulp sheets were studied after four separate refining degrees. Comparison by Gurley air resistance, Bendtsen porosity, and the oxygen transmission rate tests showed that lignin containing sheets had better air and oxygen barrier properties than fully bleached sheets. Sheet density and light scattering coefficient measurements further confirmed that the lignin containing pulps underwent more intense fibrillation upon refining that changed the barrier properties of the sheets. Thermal treatments (at 225 °C, 20 and 60 min, in water vapor atmospheres of 1 and 75 v/v %) were applied to determine the thermal durability of the sheets. The results revealed that the residual lignin in pulps improved the thermal stability of the pulp sheets in the hot humid conditions. This effect was systematically studied by tensile strength, brightness, and light absorption coefficient measurements. The intrinsic viscosity results support the findings and suggest that lignin is able to hinder the thermal degradation of pulp polysaccharides. In spite of the fact that lignin is known to enhance the thermal yellowing of paper, no significant discoloration of the pulp sheets containing residual lignin was observed in the hot humid conditions (75 v/v %). Our results support the idea of lignin strengthening the thermal durability of paper.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mr. Esko Pekuri (Metsä Fibre Oy, Finland) for his expertise and support in assisting in the pulp refining. A particular thanks to Mrs. Ritva Kivelä (Aalto University) for obtaining the AFM images. The financial support of Metsä Fibre Oy, FIBIC Ltd. (EffFibre Program) and TEKES (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation), are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Products Technology, School of Chemical Technology, Aalto University, P.O. Box 16300, 00076, Aalto, Finland

    Emilia Vänskä, Tuomas Vihelä, Michael Hummel & Tapani Vuorinen

  2. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, P.O. Box 1000, 02044, Espoo, Finland

    Maria Soledad Peresin & Jari Vartiainen

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  1. Emilia Vänskä
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  2. Tuomas Vihelä
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Correspondence to Emilia Vänskä.

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Vänskä, E., Vihelä, T., Peresin, M.S. et al. Residual lignin inhibits thermal degradation of cellulosic fiber sheets. Cellulose 23, 199–212 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-015-0791-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-015-0791-z

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