AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR ISOLATING RESIDUAL KRAFT LIGNIN IN HIGH YIELD AND PURITY

INTRODUCTIONInformation on the structures of residual kraft lignin (RKL) is very important for the better understanding of the reaction mechanisms of the pulping processes and the reactivity of the residual kraft lignin to bleaching chemicals. But it is a challenge work to isolating the lignin remaining on the fiber in high yield and good purity, unaltered and in absence of contaminants. There are three methods for the isolation of residual lignin from kraft pulp: one is acid hydroly…

AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR ISOLATING RESIDUAL KRAFT LIGNIN IN HIGH YIELD AND PURITY

When washed pulps is milled and ground to a fine powder, the resulting material may easily be degraded by cellulolytic enzymes. The klason and UV lignin content of the solid residuals obtained in this step were 49.9 % lignin for spruce KP, and 21.4 % for poplar KP. The solid residuals from enzymatic treatment contained about 93.3 % and 90.7 % of the lignin originally presented in the spruce KP and poplar KP respectively. The enzymatic treated residual was then subjected to mild acidolysis, which caused the cleavage of lignin-carbohydrate linkages. The resulting Ground Enzymatic/Acidolysis Kraft Lignin (GEA-KL) is of significantly higher yield than our previous two-step (enzymatic/acidolysis) residual kraft lignin (EA-KL). The improved method offers kraft lignin preparations in higher yield and purity than any other known method with minimal work up and solvent requirements. DFRC/quantitative 31P NMR protocol and quantitative DEPT edited 13C RMR were used for characterizing of RKLs.