Effect of mechanical and chemical pulping on ionic liquid fractionation of wood chips

Abstract

In this study, a comparison of two pulping methods namely mechanical and chemical, on the dissolution of Eucalyptus grandis (E. grandis) wood chips was undertaken. The wood chip pulp was treated with an ionic liquid (IL): 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride to extract the cellulose. The IL was mixed with unbleached mechanical pulp (UBMP), bleached mechanical pulp (BMP), unbleached kraft pulp (UBKP) and bleached kraft pulp (BKP) in ratios of 10%, 20%, 30%. Each solution contained IL, wood pulp and 2-mL of 16 v/v % of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The 30 % IL pretreatment was the most effective IL pretreatment. The cellulose yield at 30 % IL pretreatment for UBMP, BMP, UBKP and BKP was 65.12%, 63.82%, 67.43%, 67.15%, respectively. This indicated that the kraft pulping method was more effective than the mechanical pulping method for the yield of cellulose after the IL pretreatment. The Crl value at 30 % IL pretreatment was highest for UBMP (72.03%) indicating that the pretreatment used was the least effective in reducing the cellulose crystallinity. The fractions of E. grandis wood chip namely, lignin, regenerated cellulose and hemicelluloses before and after the IL pretreatment, were characterized by a variety of analytical techniques such as High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) (carbohydrates), Fourier Transform Infra-Red Attenuated Total Reflection (FTIR-ATR) (functional groups), Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography /Mass Spectroscopy (Py-GC/MS) (lignin fractions), Ultraviolet/Visible spectroscopy (UV/Vis) (acid soluble lignin), Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) (degradation of pulp), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) (crystallinity) and high resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) (morphology). Kraft pulping was the most effective method for the yield of cellulose after the [AMIM][Cl]/DMSO pretreatment. The 30% [AMIM][Cl]/DMSO pretreatment gave the highest S/G ratio indicating that minimal bleaching was required.