State-of-the-Art Review on High Yield Pulping Research in Japan

Fig. 8 summarizes the present status of high yield pulp production and the directions of research on modification. A thick line indicates pulping process presently in use. As mentioned previously, one kind of modification is to introduce hydrophilic groups onto the pulp. Still unsolved is whether or not the introduction of hydrophilic groups should be restricted to lignin only. Goring (28) reported that middle lamella lignin has fewer phenolic hydroxyl groups than cell wall lignin and suggested that such a difference in the lignin may be useful in the removal of middle lamella lignin. The introduction of hydrophilic groups onto pulp may not be enough to modify high yield pulp. The removal of some portion of carbohydrate may be also necessary from the standpoint of softening of pulp fibers. There is no information at what lignin and carbohydrate, and how much should be removed. The combination with synthetic high polymers may also be important in modifying high yield pulp. Prof. C. Schuerch of the State University of New York who was a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo in 1974, mentioned that the hydrophilicity of lignin would be promoted, if phenolic hydroxyl or carboxyl groups could be introduced into the aromatic nucleus of lignin. If this were possible. this process would also mean a pulp yield of more than 100%. This idea is just one example of the expectation made possible through lignin chemistry. Instead of the introduction of hydrophilic group, the oxidative degradation of aromatic nucleus of lignin may also be useful in promoting the hydrophilicity of pulp. In this case, ozone may be an excellent chemical. However, there are a lot of problems to be solved such as homogeneity of reaction and selectivity of ozone for lignin. The above ideas are summarized in Fig. 9. There are many problems to be solved in the production of an excellent high yield pulp which is comparable to chemical pulp. The information from wood chemistry hopefully will elucidate some of the problems mentioned above.