Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XXVII, Issue 1
Written by Victoria BÎNZARI, Ioana TUDOR, Denisa-Ioana GHEORGHE, Constantin ISVORANU, Diana CONSTANTINESCU-ARUXANDEI, Carmen LUPU, Mihai SÂRBU, Florin OANCEA
The aim of our paper was to investigate the efficiency of some commercial products that contain blends of maceration enzymes on the bleaching of pulp obtained from soft wood, birch and polar, using a neutral sulfite semi-chemical pulping (NSSC) process. The enzyme biobleaching is a pretreatment process that releases from pulp the lignin-carbohydrate complexes and the hexenuronic acids and reduces the consumption of chemical bleaching agent. The biobleaching efficiency was evaluated by the reduction in the kappa number. The results demonstrate that the efficiency of the maceration enzymes depends on the degree of delignification and on the composition of the blends. The enzymes that contain a blend of pectinolytic enzymes, including polygalacturonase, have significant activity also on mechanically refined pulp. The maceration enzymes that include hemicellulases are highly actives on pulp resulted from chemical extraction and are less active on pulp that was further delignified by mechanical refining. The presence of pectin lyase tends to increase the kappa number due to the release of hexenuronic acids from pectin.
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