Dissolving pulp production from bamboo

Abstract

Commercial bamboo chips were evaluated as raw material for dissolving pulp production. The chips were auto-hydrolyzed (AH) and subsequently cooked by the NaOH/AQ process and bleached to full brightness with the O-CCE-D-(EP)-D-P sequence. The term CCE designates a cold caustic extraction stage. The bamboo chip chemistry (22.4% lignin, 19.5% xylans, 49.3% cellulose, 16.8% total extractives, and 1.5% ash) was apparently unfavorable; however high quality dissolving pulp was produced using the aforementioned technologies, even when compared to results obtained with traditional eucalypt commercial wood chips. The pulp showed high brightness (92.4 % ISO) and α-cellulose content (94.9%). Its contents of hemicelluloses, extractives and ash were within acceptable levels for a dissolving pulp aimed at viscose rayon production. Thus, the bamboo chip furnish investigated can be regarded as a viable raw material for dissolving pulp production.