Development of bio-mechanical rice straw pulp by high consistency kneader with thermal and Alkaline

The purpose of this study was to develop a bio-mechanical pulp from rice straw with thermal and low chemical dosage. The process is carried out by thermal alkali kneading pretreatment (0–5% NaOH) with a high concentration kneader, enzyme pretreatment (0.2–4%) and Hollander beater. The results showed that the addition of NaOH was the main factor affecting the properties of pulp and paper, and the best properties of straw pulp could be obtained when NaOH and enzyme dosage were 5% and 0.2%, respectively. Although the optimum rice straw pulp is inferior to straw soda pulp in terms of tensile, burst and ring crush index, it is superior to old corrugated cardboard pulp and partially meets the CNS standards of corrugated medium paper and linerboard without the addition of chemicals. Therefore, the bio-mechanical rice straw pulp in this study has the potential to be produced as industrial paper.