Oxygen delignification: laboratory evaluation of the impact of dissolved organic matter, sodium carbonate and sodium thiosulfate

Abstract

Abstract Dissolved matter (DM) in the oxygen delignification (O2Del) stage affects the lignin and carbohydrate degradation. To understand this topic better, laboratory O2Del experiments were conducted with controlled addition of either unoxidized dissolved matter (UnoxDM) originating from the cooking stage or oxidized dissolved matter (OxDM) recycled from the post-O2Del washing. The presence of UnoxDM decreased the delignification, while the presence of OxDM showed the opposite effect, both compared to a well-washed pulp and at the same alkali charge level. However, both types of DM had a negative impact on the carbohydrate degradation. The distribution between these DMs will affect the resulting lignin degradation, because the filtrate accompanying the fibers into the O2Del stage is a mixture of UnoxDM and OxDM. It is proposed that the positive impact on the delignification by OxDM is due to the high carbonate ion concentration in the filtrate. Further, the high content of thiosulfate ions in the UnoxDM was one of the reasons for the lower delignification in its presence.