Kamila Przybysz Buzała

Contribution of Hydrogen Bonds to Paper Strength Properties

The objective of this work was to investigate the influence of hydrogen bonds between fibres on static and dynamic strength properties of paper. A commercial bleached pinewood kraft pulp was soaked in water, refined in a PFI, and used to form paper webs in different solvents, such as water, methanol, ethanol, n-propanol and n-butanol, to determine the effect of their dipole moment on static and dynamic strength properties of resulting paper sheets. Paper which was formed in water, being the solvent of the highest dipole moment among the tested ones, showed the highest breaking length and tear resistance. When paper webs were formed in n-butanol, which was the least polar among the solvents, these parameters were reduced by around 75%. These results provide evidence of the importance of water in paper web formation and strong impact of hydrogen bonds between fibres on strength properties of paper.

Effect of Cellulases and Xylanases on Refining Process and Kraft Pulp Properties

Samples of bleached kraft pine cellulosic pulp, either treated with an enzyme preparation (a Thermomyces lanuginosus xylanase, an Aspergillus sp. cellulase, and a multienzyme preparation NS-22086 containing both these activities) or untreated, were refined in a laboratory PFI mill. The treatment with cellulases contained in the last two preparations significantly improved the pulp’s susceptibility to refining (the target freeness value of 30°SR was achieved in a significantly shorter time), increased water retention value (WRV) and fines contents while the weighted average fiber length was significantly reduced. These changes of pulp parameters caused deterioration of paper strength properties. The treatment with the xylanase, which partially hydrolyzed xylan, small amounts of which are associated with cellulose fibers, only slightly loosened the structure of fibers. These subtle changes positively affected the susceptibility of the pulp to refining (refining energy was significantly reduced) and improved the static strength properties of paper. Thus, the treatment of kraft pulps with xylanases may lead to substantial savings of refining energy without negative effects on paper characteristics.

Conversion of various types of lignocellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars using kraft pulping and enzymatic hydrolysis

The aim of this work was to assess the utility of seven different kraft pulps produced from softwood (pine), hardwood (poplar, birch and beech), wheat straw and hemp (bast and harl) as potential sources of sugar feedstocks for fermentation processes. The pulps contained low amounts of hemicelluloses (1.9–8.2% d.w.) and lignin (1.7–15% d.w.). The crystallinity index values ranged from 55% (wheat straw pulp) to 79% (hemp bast pulp), while the average DP varied from around 230 (hemp bast pulp) to 1482 (poplar and birch pulps). The results of enzymatic hydrolysis showed that not only the residual lignin content but also the cellulose crystallinity index decided on the sugar yields while the average polymerization degree had a weak impact. More reducing sugars were obtained from the hardwood pulps and wheat straw pulp (100% d.w.) than from the pine pulp (around 89% d.w.) and two hemp pulps (40.5% d.w. and 44.7% d.w. from the bast and harl pulps, respectively). Glucose was the dominating (69–79% w/w) soluble sugar in enzymatic hydrolysates of the pulps. The sugar profiles of these hydrolysates make them suitable sugar feedstocks for fermentation processes.

Effect of xylanases on refining process and kraft pulp properties

Results of this study demonstrate that enzymatic pretreatment of pulps enables energy savings in the refining process. Pretreatments of NBSK pulp with 3 different commercial xylanases resulted in a faster increase in the pulp freeness that reduced energy input for refining. The partial xylan removal by these enzymes affected the properties of cellulosic pulp and paper. The tensile properties of paper were improved by pretreatment with a pure xylanase while the additional activity of cellulases in the other two tested enzymes negatively influenced the tear resistance. Only the pure xylanase improved the pulp and paper properties. The results of this study provide evidence that the purity of xylanases used in papermaking is of great importance and may decide of paper quality and production costs.