Abstract
In this study, wheat straw pulp was prepared by sulfite-formaldehyde (SF) pulping combined with oxygen delignification to develop a sustainable methodology for chemical pulping of straw materials. The bleachability of oxygen-delignified SF pulp was also evaluated by hypochlorite bleaching. The results indicated that the Na2SO3 charge played an important role in lignin removal during SF pulping as well as oxygen delignification. The efficiency of oxygen delignification of wheat straw SF pulp was markedly high. After the oxygenation stage, the Kappa number decreased by over 50%(the original Kappa number of SF pulp was lower than 30) when the Na OH charge was in the range of 3%~5%. The optimal conditions for preparing bleached pulp via combined SF pulping and oxygen delignification involved the use of 12% of Na2SO3 and 3% of Na OH, respectively. Pulp with relatively high brightness, a low Kappa number, as well as an acceptable viscosity could be obtained when oxygen-delignified SF pulp was bleached with hypochlorite under a low active chlorine dosage.
