Pulping and TCF Bleaching of Canadian Seed Flax Straw

摘要

A large amount of cereal crops, including seed flax, are grown in the Canadian Prairies. Because of the bast fiber in flax straw, incorporation of the straw back into the soil is not possible so it is either burned off or removed from the fields. This study evaluated seed flax straw as a raw material for papermaking pulp production. Trials were carried out on samples processed in a Tornado Pulper: whole flax straw, separated bast fiber, and separated bast fiber treated with enzymes. These were compared to commercially-available dry decorticated bast fiber. 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. Strength properties of the commercially available dry decorticated bast fiber and of the enzymatically treated materials were significantly higher than the Tornado-processed materials indicating that the Tornado-processed flax straw had not been properly retted prior to processing.