Papermaking properties of the ECF-bleached kraft pulps from first-thinning Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.)
Abstract First-thinning Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and the outer (containing long fibers) and inner (containing short fibers) parts of its stem wood were delignified on a laboratory scale by kraft pulping followed by oxygen-alkali delignification and bleaching with D0(EO)D1(EP)D2. The aim was to evaluate the potential use of the bleached pulps as reinforcing material in various mechanical and chemical pulps. The physical and optical properties of the pulps indicated that only the “outer part pulp”, with rather similar properties to those of a reference softwood kraft pulp, seemed suitable for this purpose. In contrast, materials from first-thinning stem wood and its inner part resulted in lower yields as early as the kraft pulping stage. Rather mediocre strength properties were obtained, but the bleached kraft pulps prepared from the two first thinning-based materials had good optical properties.