Kraft pulping of Eucalyptus nitens wood chips biotreated by Ceriporiopsis subvermispora

Eucalyptus nitens and E. globulus are wood species used in kraft pulping in Chile and Australia. Although E. nitens adapts very well to cold regions it requires more severe cooking conditions to produce bleachable kraft pulps. An attempt was made to find out whether a pre-treatment with Ceriporiopsis subvermispora would improve its performance during kraft pulping and the pulp properties. The biotreatment of the chips carried out for a period of 15 days resulted in 13.3% lignin loss and a limited glucan degradation (2%). The pulping of biotreated samples required lower active alkali charge to reach the target kappa number compared to the control untreated sample and exhibited better pulping selectivity. The pulp yield increased by 3% and 1.5% for the pulps of 22 and 16 kappa numbers, respectively. The biotreated pulp's strength properties were improved and were similar to those of E. globulus reference pulp. Copyright