| Summary: | The properties of industrially produced pulp and corresponding cooked pulp devised in the laboratory were studied during the first part of this project. The industrial pulp proved to have a lower surface charge compared to the laboratory-cooked pulp, while similar results were obtained during total charge analysis. Regarding properties such as fiber width and fiber length, no major differences between the pulps were found, and during the analysis of the total content of individual monosaccharides, only the amount of xylose differed showing a slightly lower amount for the laboratory-cooked pulp. Part two of the project included a method formation for analyzing the carbohydrate composition on the surface of pulp fibers. The sample containing polysaccharides was hydrolyzed with a mixture of cellulase and hemicellulase which resulted in gradual fiber peeling. The method itself may in fact need further development, but overall the test generated a positive outcome. To desalinate and lower the content of sugars within the enzyme mix before hydrolysis along with using calibration solutions containing enzymes were shown to be important factors in retaining optimal results.
|
|---|
