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Viscosity control and reactivity improvements of cellulose fibers by cellulase treatment

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Abstract

Cellulase treatment for decreasing viscosity of cellulose (dissolving pulp) is a promising approach to reduce the use of toxic chemicals, such as hypochlorite in the dissolving pulp manufacturing process. In this study, the use of an endoglucanase-rich cellulase to replace the hypochlorite for this purpose and its improvements of the Fock reactivity were investigated. The results showed that at a given viscosity level, the replacement of hypochlorite treatment with a cellulase treatment in the bleach plant under otherwise the same conditions led to a higher Fock reactivity (72.0 vs 46.7 %). These results were due to the enzymatic peeling/etching mechanism, which partially peeled the primary wall of the fibers, thus improving the accessibility of fibers. The improved accessibility of the enzymatic treated pulp was supported by the positive fiber morphological changes determined, based on the SEM, BET and WRV methods. The alkali solubility results further supported the conclusion.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Canada Research Chairs and NSERC CRD program, and the Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission (Grant No. 12ZCZDGX01100).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, China

    Chao Duan, Jianguo Li & Yonghao Ni

  2. Limerick Pulp and Paper Centre, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5A3, Canada

    Chao Duan, Saurabh Kumar Verma, Jianguo Li, Xiaojuan Ma & Yonghao Ni

  3. Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, 781039, India

    Saurabh Kumar Verma

  4. College of Material Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China

    Xiaojuan Ma

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  1. Chao Duan
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  2. Saurabh Kumar Verma
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  3. Jianguo Li
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  4. Xiaojuan Ma
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  5. Yonghao Ni
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Correspondence to Yonghao Ni.

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Duan, C., Verma, S.K., Li, J. et al. Viscosity control and reactivity improvements of cellulose fibers by cellulase treatment. Cellulose 23, 269–276 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-015-0822-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-015-0822-9

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