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Upgrading old corrugated cardboard (OCC) to dissolving pulp

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A Correction to this article was published on 16 June 2022

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Abstract

Delignification and pentosan dissolution of old corrugated cardboard (OCC) pulp was carried out using formic acid (FA) followed by alkaline extraction at atmospheric pressure. The kappa number of the initial OCC pulp was 41.4, which was decreased to 18.0 after 3.5 h of formic acid treatment. At this point, the pentosan content in the formic-acid-treated pulp was 6.20 %, being further decreased to 3.92 % after alkaline extraction with 8 % NaOH for 120 min at 90 °C. The overall pulp yield after FA treatment and alkaline extraction reached 48.0 %. Alkaline-extracted pulp was bleached to 85 % brightness using a D0EpD1EpD2 bleaching sequence, with α-cellulose content of 94.7 %. FA and alkaline extraction liquor dissolved mostly hemicellulose and lignin, which were isolated and characterized. The fractions of lignin and hemicellulosic sugars recovered from the FA spent liquor were 4.3 and 12.7 %, respectively. The lignin was characterized as having a lower amount of methoxyl but higher amount of phenolic hydroxyl groups.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank BCSIR for providing funding necessary to carry out this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pulp and Paper Research Division, BCSIR Laboratories, Dhaka, Dr. Qudrat-i-Khuda Road, Dhaka, 1205, Bangladesh

    M. Sarwar Jahan, M. Mostafizur Rahman & Akash Mamon Sarkar

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  1. M. Sarwar Jahan
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  2. M. Mostafizur Rahman
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  3. Akash Mamon Sarkar
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Correspondence to M. Sarwar Jahan.

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The original online version of this article was revised: The third author name Akash Mamon Sarkar is corrected.

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Jahan, M.S., Rahman, M.M. & Sarkar, A.M. Upgrading old corrugated cardboard (OCC) to dissolving pulp. Cellulose 23, 2039–2047 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-016-0894-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-016-0894-1

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