The effects of pre-treatment and consistency on treatment time and brightness of bagasse alkaline peroxide mechanical pulp

Preparation and pre-treatment of raw material influences the pulp production time and color elimination. Pulp consistency during the treatment also influences the color reaction. In the preparation of the APMP pulp, bagasse was pretreated by either boiling water, 1% NaOH as well as 1% NaOH + 1% H2O2. The liquor to bagasse ratio, treatment time and temperature of alkaline peroxide treatment were constant as 10:1, 30 min, and 70 C respectively. The treatment duration was determined so that at least five percent of the initial hydrogen peroxide remained at the end of chemical treatment. Characteristics of hand sheets were determined according to the TAPPI standard. The results showed that, the duration of the treatment for pulp consistency of 10, 15 and 20% was 50, 30 and 10 minute, for sample pretreated with boiling water and 290, 230 and 170 minute for the sample pretreated with 1% NaOH + 1% H2O2. The highest brightness of the paper reached with bagasse pretreated in boiling water at 20 % consistency.