Effect of urea addition on soda pulping of oak wood

Many studies have been conducted to find a sulfur-free additive for alkaline pulping liquors that would have an effect similar to that of sulfide in kraft pulping. Some reagents that partially fulfill this role have been found, but they are too expensive to be used in the quantities required to make them effective. As an alternative method to solve air pollution problem and difficulty of pulp bleaching of kraft pulping process, NaOH-Urea pulping was applied. The properties of NaOH-Urea pulp were compared to those of NaOH and kraft pulps. Addition of urea in low alkali charges retarded delignification rate compared to NaOH pulping. But, in high alkali application, delignification was significantly enhanced not from the addition of urea but from the high alkalinity. It was disclosed that urea did not participate on delignification reaction by the experiment using lignin model compound. Compared to paper strengths at the same level of sheet density, NaOH-Urea pulp gave as almost same breaking length and tensile index as those of kraft pulp. Especially tensile energy absorption and burst index were higher than those of kraft pulp. It is believed that, during pulping, the formation of cellulose carbamate would play a main role to enchance the paper strength.