The oxygen-bleached birch kraft pulp was further bleached with peracetic acid under the various conditions and the effects of variables at the peracetic acid stage including bleaching temperature and time, pulp consistency, peracetic acid doses and pH of bleaching liquor, upon the properties of the bleached pulp such as yield, brightness, PC No. and viscosity were evaluated statistically. Among the variables tested, bleaching temperature had highly significant effects upon all of these pulp properties, especially the effect upon viscosity of the pulp was remarkable. (Table 3)
In the oxygen-alkali and peracetic acid (O-PA) sequence, pulp brightness 89 could be obtained by treatment with 5% peracetic acid doses and at 90°C, so it seemed to be possible to obtain the fully bleached pulp with O-PA sequence. As pulp brightness increased, brightness stability increased and the decrease in yield was quite slight, in contrast to the case of the oxygen-alkali and hydrogen peroxide (O-P) sequence.
In O-P sequence, when the brightness increased beyond 77, reductions of yield, viscosity and brightness stability of the bleached pulp were quite remarkable as reported in the previous paper. The viscosity of the O-PA bleached pulp was independent of the brightness of the pulp, but largely decreased as the bleaching temperature increased.
Oxygen-bleached pulp was subsequently bleached with peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide and the sequences O-PA-P, O-P-PA, and O-PA were compared with each other in termes of the pulp properties. As compared at the same amount of chemicals, pulp brightness increased in order, O-PA-P>O-P-PA>O-PA sequences.
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