Characteristics of wastewater from unit systems of automative process for manufacture of paper mulberry pulp fibers

Paper mulberry fibers have been used as fibrous raw materials for manufacturing traditional handmade paper, hanji for a long time. Compared to wood pulp fibers, pulp fibers from mulberry bast tissue have some benefits in physical and chemical properties due to their high D.P (degree of polymerization), M.W (molecule weight) and long fiber length. Specially, Korean handmade hanji shows outstanding characteristics in mechanical tensile strength, folding endurance, flexibility and long sustainable conservation properties. Therefore, hanji is widely applied to daily supplies, hygienic goods, medical supplies, clothing industries and so on. Recently, the potential demand of mulberry pulp fibers is more and more increased on the strength of high application fields. This study was focused on the possibility of wastewater recycling in unit operation systems for the development of automated mass production line. The properties and environmental loads of wastewater from debarking, cooking, bleaching and screening process were analyzed by means of COD, conductivity, turbidity and solid materials. The wastewater from debarking and cooking process was comparatively high in pollution load, and would be treated by additional approaches of chemico-physical method.