The middle lamella remainders on the surface of various mechanical pulp fibres

Abstract

The surface of various mechanical pulp fibres including thermomechanical pulp (TMP), chemithermomechanical pulp (CTMP), and alkaline peroxide mechanical pulp (APMP) fibres, were characterized using SEM, AFM, and XPS. With SEM and AFM, middle lamella material was observed to be non-fibrillar, patch-like, while fibre secondary wall was observed to have a microfibrillar structure. It was found that after the first-stage refiner, lignin-rich middle lamella remainders are present on the fibre surface of all three pulps, although most of the fibre surfaces expose microfibrillar structure. After the final-stage refining, large amounts of granules are present on the TMP fibre surface. In contrast, most middle lamella remainders remain on the surface of CTMP fibres after final stage refining and even after peroxide bleaching. XPS results have confirmed that the non-fibrillar surface material is the lignin-rich middle lamella remainder., and the remainders of middle lamella contribute to the high surface lignin concentration.