Understanding the Effect of Severity Factor of Prehydrolysis on Dissolving Pulp Production Using Prehydrolysis Kraft Pulping and Elemental Chlorine-free Bleaching Sequence

Prehydrolysis kraft pulping is an effective approach to produce dissolving pulp, which can be used for viscose application. The prehydrolysis process using hot liquid water could remove hemicellulose and loosen the compact cell wall, thus facilitating subsequent pulping and bleaching processes. In this study, the composite severity factor (CSF) was used to reveal the intensity of prehydrolysis treatment and its effect on the pulping and bleaching process by combining the temperature, time, and pH variables. Results showed that the optimum CSF was 6.61, which produced a pulp with a-cellulose of 92.3%, degree of polymerization (DP) of 1081, brightness of 85.1% ISO, and Kappa number of 0.61. In addition, the fiber quality, crystalline structure, and microstructure of pulps were characterized by FQA (fiber quality analysis), XRD (X-ray diffraction), and SEM (scanning electron microscopy).