TY - JOUR

T1 - Enzymatic Fibre Modification During Production of Dissolving Wood Pulp for Regenerated Cellulosic Materials

AU - Loureiro, Pedro E.G.

AU - Cadete, Sonia M.S.

AU - Tokin, Radina

AU - Evtuguin, Dmitry V.

AU - Lund, Henrik

AU - Johansen, Katja S.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to dedicate this work to the memory of Henrik Lund, Novozymes A/S. Publisher Copyright: © Copyright © 2021 Loureiro, Cadete, Tokin, Evtuguin, Lund and Johansen.

PY - 2021/9/28

Y1 - 2021/9/28

N2 - The production of regenerated cellulosic fibres, such as viscose, modal and lyocell, is based mainly on the use of dissolving wood pulp as raw material. Enzymatic processes are an excellent alternative to conventional chemical routes in the production of dissolving pulp, in terms of energy efficiency, reagent consumption and pulp yield. The two main characteristics of a dissolving pulp are the cellulose purity and the molecular weight, both of which can be controlled with the aid of enzymes. A purification process for paper-grade kraft pulp has been proposed, based on the use of xylanases in combination with hot and cold caustic extraction, without the conventional pre-hydrolysis step before kraft pulping. This enzyme aided purification allowed the production of a dissolving pulp that met the specifications for the manufacture of viscose, < 3% xylan, > 92% ISO brightness and 70% Fock’s reactivity. Endoglucanases (EGs) can efficiently reduce the average molecular weight of the cellulose while simultaneously increasing the pulp reactivity for viscose production. It is shown in this study that lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases act synergistically with EGs in the modification of bleached dissolving pulp.

AB - The production of regenerated cellulosic fibres, such as viscose, modal and lyocell, is based mainly on the use of dissolving wood pulp as raw material. Enzymatic processes are an excellent alternative to conventional chemical routes in the production of dissolving pulp, in terms of energy efficiency, reagent consumption and pulp yield. The two main characteristics of a dissolving pulp are the cellulose purity and the molecular weight, both of which can be controlled with the aid of enzymes. A purification process for paper-grade kraft pulp has been proposed, based on the use of xylanases in combination with hot and cold caustic extraction, without the conventional pre-hydrolysis step before kraft pulping. This enzyme aided purification allowed the production of a dissolving pulp that met the specifications for the manufacture of viscose, < 3% xylan, > 92% ISO brightness and 70% Fock’s reactivity. Endoglucanases (EGs) can efficiently reduce the average molecular weight of the cellulose while simultaneously increasing the pulp reactivity for viscose production. It is shown in this study that lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases act synergistically with EGs in the modification of bleached dissolving pulp.

KW - Biotechnology

KW - dissolving pulp

KW - enzymes

KW - Lignocellulose

KW - viscose

U2 - 10.3389/fpls.2021.717776

DO - 10.3389/fpls.2021.717776

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34650579

AN - SCOPUS:85116903294

VL - 12

JO - Frontiers in Plant Science

JF - Frontiers in Plant Science

SN - 1664-462X

M1 - 717776

ER -