The effect of hot water and alkaline pre-extractions on properties of bagasse pulps produced by monoethanolamine-AQ process

In this research, the effect of hot water and alkaline pre-extractions on properties of bagasse monoethanolamine-AQ pulps was investigated and the results were compared with that of soda pulping. The pre-extraction with alkaline charge of 10%, time of 30 min resulted in total yield and holocellulose of 94.7% and 71.6%, respectively. The hot water pre-extraction with L/W of 10/1 and time of 45min lead to total yield and hollocellulose of 94% and 69.4%, respectively. These trails were selected as the optimum conditions. Monoethanolamine was used as pure and also in different proportions with water for cooking unextracted and pre-extracted bagasse. Variables in monoethanoleamine pulpng were ratio of monoethanolamine to water at three levels (100/0, 75/25, and 50/50%) and the ratio of the liquor to bagasse of 6 to 1, cooking time of 60 min, the temperature of 165°C and AQ charge of 0.1% considered as constant. According to the results, the MEA-AQ pulps produced with MEA/H2O ratio of 75/25 (from unextracted bagasse) have the highest total yield (61.9 %) and the acceptable kappa number (19.5). Pre-extraction resulted in improving of the yield in both MEA-AQ and soda pulping processes. After pre-extraction, the tensile index and breaking length of pulps dropped. In contrast, the tear index of pulps produced from pre-extracted bagasse in both pulping processes was increased. The brightness of soda pulps from un- and pre-extracted bagasse was more than that of MEA-AQ pulps. After pre-extraction, the opacity of pulps remains almost unchanged.