Optimization of treatment sequences for the production of dissolving pulp from birch kraft pulp

As a continuation of our work, the viability of converting paper-grade kraft pulps into dissolving-grade pulps, for several raw materials, has been presented. It has been demonstrated that a combination of an enzymatic treatment using a commercial xylanase followed by alkali extraction resulted in an efficient hemicellulose removal. Furthermore, the cellulose reactivity could be enhanced by an additional enzymatic treatment using a commercial monocomponent endoglucanase. As a result, pulps with the characteristics of those of a commercial dissolving pulp, in terms of hemicellulose content and cellulose reactivity, were obtained. The viscosity of the treated pulps, however, was significantly affected by the treatments; they present lower values than those suitable for the production of cellulose derivatives and regenerated cellulose. The pulps, on the other hand, contained mostly cellulose II, which may also affect the process. Therefore, as a continuation of this work, an optimization of the sequences of treatments as well as a study of the parameters involved was performed in order to overcome the low viscosity values and the presence of cellulose II. After the optimization, it was observed that the xylanase treatment could be replaced by an alkali extraction step, the reaction time for the alkali treatment could be shortened, the viscosity could be increased and pulps containing cellulose I could be obtained. In addition, the hemicellulose content and cellulose reactivity values remained in the range of those of a commercial dissolving-grade pulp.