Study of alkaline peroxide mechanical pulp made from Pinus densiflora

Alkaline Peroxide Mechanical Pulping (APMP) of Pinus densiflora harvested from domestic mountains was explored. APMP contributes to various advantages including pulp quality, elimination of the need for a bleaching process, and energy savings. Sequential treatment of impregnation of bleaching chemicals and refining not only overcome the concern of alkaline darkening of wood chips during chemical impregnation, but it also brightens the chips to the desired brightness levels suitable for writing and printing papers. APMP pulping from Pinus densiflora was greatly influenced by the dosage levels of hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydroxide. Alkaline peroxide treatment was carried out by applying one of three levels of hydrogen peroxide (1.5, 3, and 4.5% based on the oven-dried weight of the wood chips) and one of three levels of sodium hydroxide (1.5, 3, and 4.5% based on the oven-dried weight of the wood chips). Other chemicals including a peroxide stabilizers and metal chelation were constantly added for all treatments. Chemical treatment with a liquor-to-wood ration of 9:1 was carried out in a laboratory digestor. Compared to BTMP, APMP pulping displayed outstanding characteristics including the less requirement of refining energy, the better improvement of tensile strength, the more reduction of shives, and the greater increase of pulp brightness. In particular, when 4.5% of hydrogen peroxide with impregnation during 90 minutes was used, the brightness of APMP reached 64.9% ISO. Even though bulk of APMP was decreased with the increase of sodium hydroxide, a better and improved balance could be achieved between optical and strength properties. The spent liquor obtained from the discharge of the impregnation process at the dosage level of 4.5% hydrogen peroxide exhibited an equal level of residual peroxide with BTMP. In conclusion, APMP pulping showed successful results with Pinus densiflora due to its better response to the development of optical and physical properties compared to TMP pulping.