An enzyme-catalysed bleaching treatment to meet dissolving pulp characteristics for cellulose derivatives...

Bleached cellulose with good end-properties (≈ 90% ISO brightness and 62% cellulose preservation) was obtained by using a totally chlorine-free biobleaching process (TCF). Unbleached sulphite cellulose was treated with Trametes villosa laccase in combination with violuric acid. This enzymatic stage (L) was followed by a chelating stage (Q) and then by a hydrogen peroxide stage reinforced with pressurized oxygen (Po), resulting to an overall LQPo sequence. The use of violuric acid was dictated by the results of a preliminary study, where the bleaching efficiency of various natural (syringaldehyde and p-coumaric acid) and synthetic mediators (violuric acid and 1-hydroxybenzotriazole) were assessed. The outstanding results obtained with laccase-violuric acid system fulfil most of the characteristics of commercial dissolving pulp, totally acceptable for viscose manufacturing or CMC derivatives, with the added advantage that the enzymatic treatment saved 2h of reaction time and about 70% of hydrogen peroxide consumption, relative to a conventional sequence (Po).