The effect of surfactants application on soda pulping of wheat straw

This paper details the effects of two non-ionic surfactants, ELA-7 and PEG 1500, on the soda pulping of wheat straw. The results showed that application of either surfactant improved the pulp yield and decreased the screen rejects. The increase in pulp yield at similar kappa number may be due to higher selectivity of delignification affected by surfactant, which can act as a co-solvent. Addition of ELA-7 to cooking liquor didn’t have significant effect on paper properties. But a significant effect was observed with PEG 1500. In fact, it caused a decrease in burst and tensile index but increased the tear index, probably because of a debonding effect of the surfactant. In addition, application of both surfactants improved brightness for both unbleached and bleached pulp samples.