COMPRESSION WOOD IN Pinus radiata III: KRAFT PULP PROPERTIES

Previous studies with radiata pine trees growing slightly leaned towards one side showed that they have small amounts of compression wood with different characteristics than the opposite wood at the other side of the annual rings. These differences include shorter tracheids, higher density, higher proportion of lining, higher proportion of extractives in toluene ethanol, and a smaller amount of alpha-cellulose. The present study compares the properties of kraft pulp, with and without bleaching, for mixtures of compression and opposite wood obtained from fifteen 22-year-old radiata pine trees that grew in humid sand soils of Chile. The kraft pulp mixture was studied for different proportions of 0, 40, 70 and 100% compression wood. Considering all mixtures with and without bleaching, the study reports values between 501 and 695 kg/m(3) density, 28 and 51 Nm/g tension index, 18 and 25 mNm(2)/g tear index, 2,2 and 4,1 kPam(2)/g burst index, and 44% and 50,6% pulp yield. It was found that the pulp without bleaching from compression wood (for both the internal pulp and the external lumber areas) had lower density, but higher tension, tear, and burst indexes. The pulp with bleaching from compression wood had both higher density and tension index, but the other properties only show small random differences with respect to opposite wood. A higher proportion of compression wood in the mixture reduced pulp yield. The yield for the internal pulp area was 50,6 % with pure opposite wood and 44% with pure compression wood, while the yield for external lumber area was 48,4% with pure opposite wood and 44,3% with pure compression wood. I was concluded, however, that the relatively small amount of compression wood found in these trees had only a minor effect in the properties and yield of kraft pulp.