Pulping and TCF Bleaching of Canadian Wheat Straw and Oat Straw

摘要

The Canadian Prairies grow a large amount of cereal crops, and the crop residues are only partially used for various purposes such as soil conditioning and livestock bedding and feed. This study evaluated wheat straw and oat straw as raw materials for papermaking pulp production. Trials were carried out on 100% wheat straw, 100% oat straw and a 50/50 mix of the straws. Pulping was done using the soda-AQ process followed by TCF bleaching using a QPpZ sequence for a target brightness of greater than 85% ISO. The bleached straw pulps were tested for physical properties and compared to the physical properties of bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp (BEK). At the same freeness, the straw pulps had low tear index as compared to BEK but had similar or higher tensile index and significantly higher burst index. The bleached straw pulps were acceptable for papermaking.