Abstract:

The accumulation of wood extractives in paper mills (forming the so-called pitch deposits) results in low-quality pulp and blockages causing important economic losses as well as effluent toxicity. This proposal focuses on the pilot-scale development of environmentally sound methods for pitch control during manufacture of selected pulps (spruce TMP and eucalypt TCF-bleached kraft pulp based on:

1. fungal strains selectively removing compounds responsible for pitch deposition to be used for formulation of inocula to treat wood;
2. the use of new industrial enzymes (native or engineered poteins) for removing pitch compounds and optimised protocols for expression, fermentation and purification of these enzymes;
3. a suitable combination of the above treatments with improved physicochemical methods to remove pitch or decrease its depositability;
4. analysis of advantages of the new processes in terms of control of pitch deposition, pulp and process parameters, and effluent treatment and toxicity; and
5. evaluation of the commercial interest of the treatments developed for different raw materials, pulp manufacturing processes, and world markets.

Objectives:

To design environmentally sound methods for pitch control during manufacture of selected paper pulps based on:

1. previous balance of extractive-derived compounds during manufacturing of eucalypt kraft pulp and spruce TMP pulp, and identification of compounds responsible for pitch deposition;
2. selected fungal strains removing extractives from both wood types;
3. new (native or engineered) enzymes able to degrade target compounds in pulps or liquids; and
4. improved physicochemical methods to remove pitch or decrease depositability.

1. fungal growth optimisation and formulation of inocula to treat wood;
2. optimised protocols for production of the new enzymes developed;
3. combined enzymatic-physicochemical treatments;
4. pilot-scale pulping and bleaching including the above optimized treatments;
5. analysis of advantages of the new processes in terms of extractive removal, pitch depositability, pulp and process parameters, and effluent toxicity; and
6. evaluation of their commercial interest for different raw materials, pulping processes and world markets.

Contacts

Coordinator

• Angel T MARTINEZ / CIB, CSIC Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas / SPAIN

EC Scientific Officer

• Ignacio SEOANE / European Commission DG Research Theme 1 Key Action 5.3 / BELGIUM

Participant

• CTP, Centre Technique du Papier FRANCE
• Javier ROMERO / ENCE, Empresa Nacional de Celulosas Centro de Investigacion / SPAIN
• José C DEL RIO / Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS-CSIC) / SPAIN
• Novozymes DENMARK
• Diane P WILLIAMS / Plant Health Care Inc USA
• Angeles BLANCO / UCM - Universidad Complutense de Madrid Dpto Ingenieria Quimica, Facultad de CC Quimicas / SPAIN
• Kaisa HERRANEN / United Paper Mills Kymmene FINLAND
• Richard FAGERSTRÖM / VTT Biotechnology FINLAND
• Wageningen University Laboratory of Organic Chemistry / NETHERLANDS
• Bjarne HOLMBOM / Åbo Akademi University Dept of Forest Products Chemistry / FINLAND