Effect of boiling water pre-treatment on the yield, physical, optical and mechanical properties of neutral sulfite semi chemical pulp from wheat straw

In this study, the effect of boiling water pre-treatment on yield, optical, physical and mechanical properties of NSSC (Neutral Sulfite Semi Chemical) pulp from Zagroos wheat straw (Golestan province) was investigated. Chopped wheat straw was pretreated in boiling water for 30 minutes, water to straw ratio of 10:1. NSSC pulping was carried out at constant pulping conditions including liquor to straw ratio of 10:1, maximum pulping temperature of 160ºC and 30 minutes pulping time. In order to study the effect of NaOH on strength properties of paper, in some trails only Na2S03 were used. Pulping was followed by defibration in laboratory refiner to reach 380±25mlCSF freeness. Handsheets at 60gr/m² were made from each pulp. The strength properties were determined on the basis of TAPPI standard. Results show that pre-treatment imparted a significant increasing effect on the strength properties of papers such as tensile, burst, breaking length, stiffness and density, except RCT strength. Increasing the chemical charge specially NaOH improved the pulp freeness, yield and handsheet density but the handsheet thickness was reduced