Selected grass plants as biomass fuels and raw materials for papermaking, part II. pulp and paper properties

Abstract

The yield and kappa number of kraft pulps from tall wheatgrass, tall fescue, tall oatgrass, and Miscanthus were determined after pulping with 0.9% active alkali per 1% lignin content in raw materials. Fibre properties and test papers were also studied to evaluate the usefulness of these plants for papermaking. These results were compared with pulps prepared from birch and pine wood. Kraft pulps from the straws of grasses had yields similar to that of pulp from pine wood and lower kappa numbers than pulps from birch and pine wood. The tested pulps exhibited a favourable number of fibres in 1 g of pulp, and they resulted in papers with clearly differentiated properties from very resistant to rupture dense papers with very low air permeability, to less resistant to breaking more bulky papers.