Abstract
Discarded oyster farming bamboo scaffolding (BS) has the potential to be applied to pulping and papermaking. Thus, this study aims to develop a chemi-mechanical pulping process for the BS with lower chemical and temperature demands through a high-consistency kneader to enhance the feasibility of greener production development. This study applies a factorial experimental design to assess the impact of thermo-alkali pretreating conditions (temperature and NaOH dosage) by analyzing pulping yield, freeness, fiber appearance, and handsheet properties. After the factorial analysis, the temperature and NaOH dosage of thermo-alkali pretreatment both significantly affect the pulp properties, the condition with 125℃ and 7.5% NaOH dosage has the highest accepts ratio, the best capacity of fiber refining, and handsheet properties. Further compared with soda pulping, the kneading process developed by this study can produce a similar fiber to soda pulp and has a higher pulping yield. In summary, the chemi-mechanical pulping process through a high-consistency kneader has a greener process that can promote the application of the BS in pulping and papermaking.