Pulping processes semichemical, various

Wood is converted into pulp by mechanical, chemical, or semichemical processes. Sulfite and kraft (sulfate) are the common chemical processes, and neutral sulfite is the principal semichemical process (NSSC). Coniferous wood species (softwoods) are the most desirable, but the deciduous, broad-leaved species (hardwoods) have gained rapidly in their usage and constitute about 25 percent of pulp-wood. Table 28.2 summarizes the conditions utilized with the various pulping processes,... 

The production of wood pulp from lignocellulosic materials by treatment with various chemical liquors, particularly the neutral sulfite semichemical process and the kraft or sulfate process, gives residual black liquors. These contain salts that carry acetic acid and formic acid equivalent to 5% or more of the dry weight of the wood. 

In the production and processing of chemical, semichemical and mechanical pulps and recovered paper, various inorganic and organic substances are accumulated in dissolved or colloidal dissolved form. Other water-soluble substances enter with the fresh water, fillers, recycled uncoated and coated paper broke and also by chemical additives. As the process water circuits are increasingly closed, the concentration of these water-soluble and colloidal substances and finely dispersed particles increases considerably and an additional contaminant load is thus imposed on the waste water. These substances interfere with the production process by increasing build-ups and deposits, they reduce the efficiency of the chemical additives, and impair the quality of the produced paper. Therefore these substances are also classed as detrimental substances (Fig. 3.18). 

In chemical pulping, the by-products of wood are more or less eliminated. Semichemical processes use neutral sulfite, sodium carbonate and sulfide and sodium hydroxide in various combinations (yields are 70-80%). 

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