Eco-Friendly Bleaching of Soda-AQ Chemical Elephant Dung Pulp

Abstract

Elephant dung is an excellent source of cellulosic fibers that is a basic requirement for paper making. In this study, bleaching was carried out by using eco-friendly bleaching agents such as sodium percarbonate, oxone and hydrogen peroxide. Soda-anthraquinone (soda-AQ) semi-chemical and chemical elephant dung pulps were bleached at varying doses of bleaching agents, bleaching aids and reaction time. Presence of residual lignin after pulping stage was imparting brown color to the pulp and hence was removed by subsequent bleaching stages. Soda-AQ chemical pulps was treated with different multistage bleaching sequences. The results of this study showed that sodium percarbonate and oxone could not achieve targeted brightness for elephant dung pulp samples. Whereas, using three stage hydrogen peroxide bleaching sequence [AP 5 P 3 P 2 ] helped to achieve the targeted brightness ~ 60.0 % G.E without much sacrificing the other optical and physical properties of the pulp. Eco-friendly bleaching helped to increase the beauty of the final product. Being rich in fiber, elephant dung pulp has a potential to be blended with other raw materials to make hybrid exotic papers of high market value.