Alkaline peroxide treatment of ECF bleached softwood kraft pulps: Part 2. Effect of increased fiber charge on refining, wet-end application, and hornification

The effect of increased fiber charge on refining, cationic starch adsorption, and hornification was examined. Two pulps were investigated: (1) a softwood (SW) kraft pulp (KP) which was bleached elementally chlorine-free (ECF) and served as control; and (2) a control pulp treated with alkaline peroxide, which had a higher fiber charge. It was shown that increased fiber charge can improve the efficiency of the refining treatment, as indicated by differences in tensile index refined from 0 to 1000 revolutions. When the control pulp was refined from 4000 to 8000 revolutions, the tensile index decreased. In contrast, the tensile index of the higher fiber charge pulp (HCP) was higher under the same refining conditions. Upon addition of 2% cationic starch to both pulps, the tensile index of the control pulp increased by 13.7% and that of HCP by 23.7%. Atomic force microscopy did not reveal differences in the surface morphology of the two pulps with and without cationic starch adsorption. Peroxide treatment enhanced the fiber charge of the never-dried pulp. This was beneficial in reducing hornification when pulp was dried at 105°C. However, if the once dried pulp at 105°C was treated with peroxide, this resulted in a drastic decrease in intrinsic viscosity of the pulp and lower tensile and burst indices of the test sheets.