Tannin-iron impregnated thermomechanical pulp Part II: Bleachability and brightness reversion

Abstract

Tannins are polymeric, phenolic constituents found in the bark of pine and spruce. When reacting with iron ions, tannins form strongly coloured complexes. Thus, the presence of bark in the mechanical pulping process leads to decreased brightness of the pulp. In order to evaluate the effects of the presence of iron on the properties of pulp, we have impregnated thermomechanical pulp (TMP) with 30 parts per million (ppm i.e. mg/kg) iron either as Fe3+ or as tannin-iron complexes and studied how such treatments affect bleachability and heat-induced brightness reversion. The bleaching agents studied are hydrogen peroxide and sodium dithionite. Treatment of the tannin-iron impregnated pulp with 1% by weight of diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) before bleaching with 4% hydrogen peroxide almost eliminated the brightness loss caused by the impregnation. Such a treatment also removed all of the added iron from both the tannin-iron and FeCl3 impregnated pulps. Approximately 5% more of the added peroxide was required for oxidation of the tannins in the tannin-iron impregnated pulp. Contrary to what was observed with peroxide bleaching, dithionite bleaching did not reduce the amount of iron in the pulps. Instead, the added iron and tannin-iron negatively affected the dithionite bleaching, even if the pulps were extracted with DTPA before bleaching. It should therefore be advantageous to first bleach with peroxide, which removes most of the iron, and then with dithionite. Compared with dithionite, peroxide yields a more efficient bleaching. The reason for this is that the former reduces the light absorption coefficient, the k-value, more efficiently in the whole visible spectrum, whereas dithionite reduces it mainly at shorter wavelengths. In our experiments, the addition of tannin-iron or FeCl3 to the untreated pulp did not increase heat-induced brightness reversion. This is Supported by the fact that although extraction of the samples with DTPA before bleaching lowered the iron content slightly, it-did not affect the brightness reversion. The initial brightness reversion of the dithionite bleached pulps was larger than that observed for the peroxide bleached pulps.