Xylan from Agro Waste As a Strength Enhancing Chemical in Kraft Pulping of Softwood

The possibility to use xylan from agro waste in order to improve the strength properties of spruce kraft pulp was examined. Xylan was extracted from wheat straw and rice husks, by subjecting the agro waste to kraft cooking. The extracted xylan was subsequently used at the end of a kraft cooking process of spruce, by replacing half of the black liquor with dissolved spruce xylan with white liquor containing agro waste xylan. The strength tests performed on the obtained softwood kraft pulps showed that even a small amount of rice husk or wheat straw xylan deposited on softwood fibers had a positive effect on the tensile index of the paper at given sheet density.