A comparative study of enzymatic and Fenton pretreatment applied to a birch kraft pulp used for MFC production in a pilot scale high-pressure homogenizer

Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) was produced in pilot scale from a bleached birch (Betula verrucosa) kraft pulp that was pretreated with either Fenton’s reagent or with a combined mechanical and enzymatic method used at the Centre Technique du Papier (CTP; Grenoble, France). The change in fiber fibrillation during the homogenization treatment was monitored by analyzing the fiber and the fines content, size fractionation, rheological properties and visualization by light- and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The Fenton pretreatment resulted in MFC suspensions that contained a high amount of small sized elements. After five passes through the highpressure homogenizer, the amount of particles smaller than 20 μm was 37% for the Fenton pretreated MFC compared to 13% for the enzymatically (endoglucanase) pretreated MFC. Altogether, the Fenton pretreatment enabled preparation of MFC with a higher degree of fibrillation after the same number of passes through the high-pressure homogenizer. Another option is to produce MFC of the same amount of fibrillation as after an enzymatic stage, but at significantly lower energy consumption.