Paulownia as a rawmaterial for the production of pulp by soda-anthraquinone cooking with and without previous autohydrolysis

摘要

BACKGROUND: A central composite experimental design and multiple regression were used to model the production of pulpand paper sheets from a Paulownia fortunei × tormentosa × elongata trihybrid clone. Also, the same experiments were carriedout with the solid phase after autohydrolysis of the raw material.RESULTS: The results were compared with those obtained from the solid phase remaining after autohydrolysis of the rawmaterial with a view to optimizing the use of hemicelluloses and cellulose by fractionation. Pulp and paper sheets from thetrihybrid clone surpass those from other Paulownia species such as P. fortunei and P. elongata in physical properties suchas tensile index (11.6–49.1 Nmg−1), burst index (0.23–2.41 MPam2 kg−1), tear index (0.71–3.03mNm2 g−1) and intrinsicviscosity (427–958 cm3 g−1).CONCLUSIONS: The solid phase obtained by autohydrolysis of the Paulownia trihybrid provides pulp and paper sheetscomparable in strength-related properties with those of pulp directly produced from the raw material, but using substantiallymilder operating conditions and with the added advantage that the autohydrolysis treatment provides highly valorizableliquor.