Uncovering the Best Way to Turn Dull Wood Pulp into Bright Paper
When making paper, manufacturers typically use hydrogen peroxide to bleach the processed wood pulp, thus brightening the final product. To avoid delignifying the pulp — reducing the pulp yield and destroying the fibers that provide strength — the industry uses thermomechanical pulp, which is steamed during processing, and a bleach slurry that has a pH of ∼11.
Researchers used multiple spectroscopic techniques to characterize alkaline and acidic versions of bleaching wood pulp with...
Photonics Spectra, December 2007