Mercerised pulp is a bleached
pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
...
that is treated with hot diluted alkali to get extra high bulk and high porosity.
The pulp feels and looks similar to a
cotton ball.
Manufacture
Mercerising of pulp is a post treatment of fully
bleached pulp normally of
SBSK. The pulp is steeped in hot dilute
caustic soda
Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaOH. It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations and hydroxide anions .
Sodium hydroxide is a highly caustic base and alkali ...
. The pulp fibres swell and the
hydroxyl groups
In chemistry, a hydroxy or hydroxyl group is a functional group with the chemical formula and composed of one oxygen atom covalently bonded to one hydrogen atom. In organic chemistry, alcohols and carboxylic acids contain one or more hydroxy ...
of the
cellulose
Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell w ...
become crosslinked. The remaining
hemicellulose
A hemicellulose (also known as polyose) is one of a number of heteropolymers (matrix polysaccharides), such as arabinoxylans, present along with cellulose in almost all terrestrial plant cell walls.Scheller HV, Ulvskov Hemicelluloses.// Annu Rev ...
is washed out and the pulp will subsequently not respond to
refining.
Applications
*
Filter paper Filter paper is a semi-permeable paper barrier placed perpendicular to a liquid or air flow. It is used to separate fine solid particles from liquids or gases.
The raw materials are different Pulp (paper), paper pulps. The pulp may be made from soft ...
*
Non-wovens
See also
*
Mercerised cotton
Mercerisation is a textile finishing treatment for cellulose fabric and yarn, mainly cotton and flax, which improves dye uptake and tear strength, reduces fabric shrinkage, and imparts a silk-like luster.
Development
The process was devise ...
References
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Papermaking
Cellulose