COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN ORGANOSOLV PULPING USING DIFFERENT CONCENTRATIONS OF ETHANOL AND KRAFT PULPING OF ACACIA HYBRID

Two different pulping methods were implemented in this study which encompasses Kraft pulping and organosolv pulping. Chemical composition and moisture content of Acacia hybrid were evaluated before undergo pulping. In organosolv pulping, 1 Kg of uniform-sized chips was digested for 3 hours in a pressured digester (1.1-1.2 Mpa) in five different ethanol concentrations include 50%, 60%, 70%, 80% and 90% (v/v) with the addition of 1 M of sodium hydroxide as catalyst at185 °C. As for Kraft pulping, 14% of active alkali and 25% of sulphidity were used as solvent to digest wood chips into pulp for three hours. Result shown that there was significant different between organosolv pulping and Kraft pulping in terms of pulp yield and Kappa number. The aim of this study was to determine the difference between organosolv pulping and Kraft pulping of Acacia hybrid in terms of pulp yield, Kappa number and pulp viscosity.