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Eco-friendly pulping of wheat straw using crude xylano-pectinolytic concoction for manufacturing good quality paper

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Abstract

In this study, suitability of xylano-pectinolytic enzymes in pulping of wheat straw has been explored. The suitable biopulping conditions were optimized, with xylanase dose of 400 and pectinase dose of 120 IU/g wheat straw, 1:10 (g/ml) material to liquid ratio, 55 °C temperature, 3 h treatment time, 0.75% Tween 80 and pH 8.5. Enzymatic pretreatment efficiently increased the pulpability of wheat straw, generated pulp with higher yield, lower kappa number (15.67%) and rejections (59.65%) in comparison with chemical pulp. The brightness of pretreated wheat straw pulp with enzyme was 16.04% higher than that of the non-enzyme treated wheat straw pulp. The biopulping resulted in 12% reduction of pulping chemicals along with more residual alkali content, in order to achieve similar optical and chemical properties as obtained by 100% chemically treated pulp. Physical properties of pulp also improved after enzymatic pretreatment, increasing burst index (26.50%), tear index (18.22%) and breaking length (5.56%). The enzyme plus chemical (88% pulping chemicals) treated pulp showed improvement in brightness and whiteness, with reduction in yellowness at all bleaching stages. In comparison with chemically bleached pulp, biopulp with reduced alkali dose (88%) had higher breaking length (6.63%), double fold number (51.28%), tear index (2.83%), burst index (24.31%), along with increased viscosity (6.12%) and Gurley porosity (27.50%). These results clearly suggest that biopulping of wheat straw with xylano-pectinolytic enzymes can reduce chemical loading during soda-anthraquinone pulping and also improve the quality of paper. This is the first report demonstrating the biopulping of wheat straw using crude xylano-pectinolytic enzymes.

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Funding

The authors thankfully acknowledge the financial support provided by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India (Grant Number: BT/PR 20438/BCE/8/1220/2016 for 3 years). The corresponding author is also thankful to Avantha Center for Industrial Research and Development (ACIRD), Yamuna Nagar, for providing their laboratory facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, India

    Libin Mathew Varghese, Sharad Agrawal, Raksha Nagpal & Ritu Mahajan

  2. Avantha Center for Industrial Research and Development, Paper Mill Campus, Yamuna Nagar, India

    Om Prakash Mishra & Nishi Kant Bhardwaj

Authors
  1. Libin Mathew Varghese
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  2. Sharad Agrawal
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  3. Raksha Nagpal
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  4. Om Prakash Mishra
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  5. Nishi Kant Bhardwaj
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  6. Ritu Mahajan
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Correspondence to Ritu Mahajan.

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Varghese, L.M., Agrawal, S., Nagpal, R. et al. Eco-friendly pulping of wheat straw using crude xylano-pectinolytic concoction for manufacturing good quality paper. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 34574–34582 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10119-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10119-1

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