title: Effect of depth beating on the fiber properties and enzymatic saccharification efficiency of softwood kraft pulp.
abstract: Commercial bleached softwood kraft pulp was mechanically fibrillated by a PFI-mill with beating revolution from 5000 to 30,000 r. The extent of fibrillating on the pulp was evaluated by beating degree, fiber morphological properties (fiber length, width, coarseness and curls index), water retention value (WRV) and physical properties of paper made from the pulp. Depth beating process significantly affected the pulp fibrillations as showed by the decreased fiber length and width as well as the SEM analysis, but the effects were limited after beating revolution of 15,000. Depth beating process also improved the total internal pore and inter-fibril surface areas as shown by the increased WRV values. Substrate enzymatic digestibility (SED) of beaten pulp at 5000 revolutions could reach 95% at cellulase loading of 15 FPU/g of glucan. After the enzymatic hydrolysis, the size of the pulp residues was reduced to micro-scale, and a relative uniform size distribution of the residues appeared at 10,000 r beating revolution.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Wenhua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Zhouyang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Kefu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
authors.forename: Rendang
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China. Electronic address: xzyocean@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D002480:Cellulase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D005936:Glucans / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D006868:Hydrolysis; D010209:Paper; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties; D014934:Wood / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005936:Glucans; D002480:Cellulase
keywords: Bleached softwood kraft pulp; Depth beating; Enzymatic saccharification; Fiber size reduction; PFI-mill beating