Methodical study implicating the effectiveness of Microbial treatment over Xylanase Enzymatic treatment for Pulp Bio-bleaching

This research work evaluated a straight forward approach for pulp bio-bleaching by growing the xylanase producing microorganism (Bacillus pumilus) directly onto the soda pulp and then comparing the results of this approach with effect of the extracted xylanase enzyme from the same microorganism. The kappa number for the bacterial treated pulp sample decreased by 26.4% whereas after the enzymatic treatment only 10.3% decrease was found. Physical properties of the paper also improved more significantly in case of bacterial treated pulp samples (52.3% increase in the tear factor, 5% improvement in tensile strength) as compared to the paper formed after enzymatic treatment of pulp (27.57% increase in tear factor, 2.9% increase in tensile strength). The results suggest a novel method of pulp bleaching by direct growth of B. pumilus which is much simpler and time efficient method. The paper quality improved considerably following this approach in comparison to the extracted enzyme. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This research evaluated a straightforward approach for pulp bio-bleaching by directly growing a xylanase-producing microorganism on the soda pulp. The results showed that the bacterial treated pulp samples had a higher decrease in kappa number and more significant improvement in paper physical properties compared to the enzymatic treatment. The findings suggest that the direct growth of Bacillus pumilus is a simpler and more efficient method for pulp bleaching.