Production, characterization and end products

of dissolving pulp

Jimi Leivo, Antton Lahnalammi, Florian Burkhart

Aalto University
School of Chemical Engineering

11/18/2015

Dissolving pulp
High cellulose content (> 90 %)
Different charasteristics not made into paper
used to manufacture e.g. regenerated fibers or cellulose
derivatives

Chemical properties > fibre properties

Reactivity to reagents and solvents describes the
processability of the dissolving pulp
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11/18/2015
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Production
All types of wood and cotton linters are suitable for
producing dissolving pulp
Similar to the papermaking process; the main difference
is to remove hemicelluloses
Same process stages
Longer cooking and bleaching time
Bigger amount of reject

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11/18/2015
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Production
Prehydrolysis kraft cooking

Currently most popular method

Liquid or gaseous phase
Continuous or batch process
Environmentally friendly

Sulfite pulping
Cooking is longer and more acidic than conventional pulping
One-step batch cooking
Higher yield and reactivity

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11/18/2015
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Dissolving pulp characterization

Desired properties of dissolving pulp differ according to
different end products
Complete removal of noncellulosic impurities not feasible due to
e.g. high yield losses
laboratory scale simulations can be used to determine suitability
in each case

Most important property is pulp reactivity, which is

affected by:
the physcial structure of the cellulosic material (accesibility)
the type of chemical interactions with the reagents (functional
groups)

Antton Lahnalammi
11/18/2015
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Residual fractions
Hemicelluloses and residual ligning cause yellowing and
worsen processability (e.g. filterability)
Extractives can cause problems due to e.g.
precipitaition, but may increase accessabilty due to
lower surface tension
Inorganics: e.g. Fe2+ and Cu2+ severly impair H2O2
bleaching

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11/18/2015
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Macromolecular properties
Molar mass and molar mass distribution
Mechanical properties: short chain molecule (DP<100) fraction
corresponds strongly with weakened properties

Functional groups
Present in raw material and formed during pulping/bleaching
Most important are the reducing end groups and oxidized OH
groups in cellulose and carboxyl groups in hemicelluloses.
Carbonyl and carboxyl groups cause e.g. strength loss and
yellowing

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11/18/2015
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Physical structure
Supramolecular structure
Ratio of amorphous and crystalline regions
Cellulose polymorphism (e.g. Cellulose I -> Cellulose II)

Cell wall structure

Removal of primary cell wall during acid sulfite pulping
Different arrangement of hemicelluloses across the cell wall in
PHK and acid sulfite pulps

Pore structure, accessibility

Pore volume and distribution, WRV, hornification

Fibre morphology
Different cell types and dimensions (hardwoods)

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11/18/2015
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Degradation of dissolving pulp

Degradation expirements provide information about the
supramolecular structure, funcionalities and changes in
the molecular weight distribution
Thermal, chemical, mechanical or radiaton degradation
Example: resistivity or solublity in 10 m% and 18 m%
NaOH (R10, S18 etc. )
R18 gives rough estimate of crystalline cellulose
Hardwood alphacellulose content can be estimated as
(R10+R18)/2
S10 estimates hemicellulose fraction
S18 estimates the combined hemicellulose and low MW
cellulose fraction
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11/18/2015
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Products manufactured from dissolving

pulp
Cellulose regenerates

&

Cellulose derivates

Cellulose in its pure form

Cellulose is modified

Cellulose II

Ethers and esters

Raw material dissolved

Different chemical engineering for

different products

Dope
Spinnbath

Post treatment

Regioselectivity
Florian Burkhart
11/18/2015
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Regenerated cellulose with modified

intermediate step
CV & CMD (viscose fibers, rayon, modal)
NaOH treatment
Xanthation with CS2 and dissolution
Wet spinning
Stretching of fibers
Cutting of fibers
Washing of fibers

Florian Burkhart
11/18/2015
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Regenerated cellulose out of direct

dissolved Cellulose
Lyocell Tencel
N-Methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO) as solvent
NMMO is not toxic
Dry-wet spinning with air gap
Fibrillated
For textiles and nonwovens

Florian Burkhart
11/18/2015
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Fibers from cellulose derivates

Cellulose triacetate
Thermoplastic
Esterification with acetic anhydride
Primary and secondary CA
Hydrophobic
Production of flakes after flocculation in diluted acetic acid
Melt spinning

Florian Burkhart
11/18/2015
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Other Cellulose based fibers

Cupro Cuoxam for cellulose dissolution
Ioncell Ionic Liquids for cellulose dissolution
BoCell superphosphoric acid; spun via air gap in aceton
Michelin process cellulose formate (formic acid and phosphoric acid)
DuPont process cellulose acetate dissolved to form liquid crystalline
solution and spun into a coagulation bath of menthol
Fortisan saponified cellulose acetate, dry spinning after dissolution in
acetone
All fibers show different properties for example in strength and water
adsorption
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11/18/2015
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Florian Burkhart
11/18/2015
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Conclusions
Dissolving pulp: >90% cellulose
Production and charaterization are similar to paper
making pulp
Wide variety of products can be derived from dissolving
pulp
Charasteristics vary according to the desired end
products

Jimi Leivo, Antton Lahnalammi, Florian Burkhart

11/18/2015
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Sources

H. Mahlamki, Upgrading Kraft Pulp to Dissolving Pulp Using Cold Caustic Extraction (Literature
Review), 2013: Heini_Mahlamki_ColdCausticExtraction.pdf

T. Rder, J. Moosbauer, G. Kliba, S. schlader, G. Zuckersttter, H. Sixta, Comparative

Characterisation of Man-Made Regenerated Cellulose Fibres, Lenzinger Berichte 87, pp. 98-105,
2009

B. Saake, Cellulosederivate und Celluloseregenerate, Vorlesungsfolien Holzwirtschaft Universitt

Hamburg, 2013

H. Sixta, Lecture slides, 2012: Puu-04110_L21_Carbohydrate-based_Products_I.pdf

H. Sixta, Pulp Properties and Applications, Dissolving Grade Pulp, in H. Sixta (ed.), Handbook of
Pulp, WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim, 2006, pp. 1022-1067. Available online
in Aalto University: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9783527619887 (accessed
29/10/2013)

KnowPulp, Dissolving pulp: know.aalto.fi (accessed 3/11/2015)

Jimi Leivo, Antton Lahnalammi, Florian Burkhart

11/18/2015
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