Effect of biotic and abiotic pretreatments of hornbeam wood on its properties interesting from the viewpoint of pulping in alkaline media. Part 2: Chemical alterations

Abstract

A series of comparable specimens of hornbeam wood were submitted to fungal and chemical pretreatments. Two strains of erosive white-rot fungi (P. chrysosporium and T. versicolor) and a lignin-selective fungus C. subvermispora were used. Chemical pretreatments were carried out with diluted sodium hydroxide, or sodium hydroxide and then by hydrogen peroxide, or per-acetic acid. Both biotic and abiotic pre-treatments modified the chemical composition of wood and were accompanied by its weight loss. The applied fungi apparently delignified the specimens, however at the expense of cellulose, especially when the erosive strains of fungi were used. The chemical pretreatments caused deep deacetyl-ation, and milder delignification of wood and did not cause an apparent loss of cellulose. Biotic pretreatments of hornbeam wood, despite their marked delignification effect, led to unexpected increase in the contents of residual lignin in the resulting kraft pulps. On the other hand, pulping of the chemically pre-treated chips yielded pulps with low contents of residual lignin and much higher brightness.