This paper describes laboratory data of a novel enzyme treatment which suggests a method that can be used to virtually eliminate dioxin formation during the chlorine bleaching of pulp. The enzyme formulation consists of a mixture of several different proteins made by a Trichoderma fungus. These proteins appear to act together to yield laboratory results of ''nondetectable'' dioxin and extremely low TCDF production even with I high Kappa factor, tow ClO2 substitution bleaching. The enzyme acts very subtly on the pulp and does not change the TOX or the amount of substituted phenolics, nor does it appear to act on lignin or hemicellulose in a manner different from conventional xylanase enzymes used for bleaching. Some of the proteins in the mixture are carbohydrases, including xylanase, but many have not been identified, and the specific action responsible for decreasing dioxin production is not known.
