Application of hemicelluloses precipitated via ethanol treatment of pre-hydrolysis liquor in high-yield pulp

Hemicelluloses in industrially produced pre-hydrolysis liquor (PHL) were precipitated with ethanol. These PHL-derived hemicelluloses (PHL-EH) and a commercial, pure birch wood xylan sample (powder form) (BWX) were bleached using chlorine dioxide (D(0) and D(1)) and hydrogen peroxide (Ep) in the D(0)EpD(1) sequence, and the chemical compositions, molecular weights and charge densities of the treated samples were assessed. When applied to high-yield pulp (HYP) at 50 mg/g, 26 and 20 mg/g of the bleached PHL-EH and BWX, respectively, were adsorbed without significantly affecting paper properties. These results suggest that semi-bleached hemicelluloses could be used to increase the basis weight of paper products. Furthermore, an integrated process was proposed that converts the kraft-based dissolving pulp production process into a biorefinery unit with dissolving pulp, bleached hemicelluloses and lignin as main products.