Comparison of the effect of ozonation on the lignin removal of sugarcane bagasse and its unbleached paper pulp.

In this study, a short ozonation pretreatment method was used to accelerate the extraction and purification of chemical compounds in bagasse and its unbleached soda paper pulp. In order to optimize and economize energy consumption, the operating conditions of ozonation were evaluated in three mediums (acidic, neutral and alkaline) and in different time intervals of 20, 60, 120 and 180 minutes. To investigate the effectiveness of medium and time of ozone on the chemical structure of the bagasse and its unbleached soda paper pulp, the infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, the content of the carboxyl group was used through conductivity titration and polymerization degree measurement. The results showed that the acidic medium had the highest amount of lignin removal and the least amount of cellulose and hemicellulose destruction and was chosen as the most suitable medium for the ozonation process and since the highest lignin removal occurred in the first 20 minutes reaction, so to remove lignin, the long ozone pretreatment is not required and short ozone can save energy and cost of pretreatment and in addition, cellulose and hemicelluloses destruction which are valuable compounds, are significantly reduced.