Polyhydric Alcohol Pulping at Atmospheric Pressure: An Effective Method for Organosolv Pulping of Softwoods

Summary Polyhydric alcohol pulping was developed to separate components of low-quality softwoods that are produced by thinning and improvement cutting as well as to establish a self-supporting pulping system. Propylene glycol (PG) was superior to ethylene glycol (EG) as solvent for polyhydric alcohol pulping at atmospheric pressure. PG pulping of fir, larch and cedar, with sulfuric acid as a catalyst, gave satisfactory pulps with few rejects and a very low level of residual lignin as compared with EG pulping. The PG pulps were readily bleached to approximately Kappa number 1 and 80% brightness by one treatment with sodium chlorite. The yield of bleached pulp from fir was 44.7% based on chips. The bleached pulps had very high α-cellulose content and crystallinity, and their mechanical properties were similar to those of kraft pulp. Therefore, polyhydric alcohol pulping appears to be promising for pulping of softwoods by an organosolv method.