Biobleaching of wheat straw pulp using laccase and xylanase

Abstract

Wheat straw pulp can be considered to be one of most important raw materials for specialty and functional paper products. Bleaching sequences involving laccase and xylanase were applied to bleach wheat straw pulp. The bleached pulp properties after a sequence of xylanase (X), laccase (L), and extraction (E), i.e. XLE, were compared with those of LE and LEX sequences. It was found that the XLE bleaching sequence was the most suitable sequence for laccase and xylanase synergetic biobleaching. The bleaching results of OXLEQP and OQP beaching sequences (where O stands of an oxygen stage, Q indicates a chelation stage, and P means peroxide) were compared. For a specific target brightness level of over 80% ISO, XL pretreatment was found to save 28.6% of the H2O2 requirement and increase the viscosity by 6.7% compared with the OQP bleaching sequence. It was also found that synergetic biobleaching could decrease the consumption of refining energy. There were no detectable adsorbable organic halides found in the biobleaching effluents.