Effect of Laccase-Mediated Biopolymer Grafting on Kraft Pulp Fibers for Enhancing Paper’s Mechanical Properties

High-resistance paper was manufactured by laccase-grafting of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and chitosan (CPX) on Kraft pulp fiber. The reaction was mediated in the presence of laccase by one of the following polyphenols in the presence of air: gallic acid (GA), vanillic acid (VA) and catechol (1,2–DHB). Enzyme was added at constant loading (24 kg ton(−1)), 1% pulp consistency, 0.005% CMC, pH = 6.3 ± 0.5 and 2 mM of mediator. CPX content was assessed at two levels (0% and 0.005%). Treated pulps were analyzed by different mechanical tests (ring crush, mullen, corrugating medium test (CMT) flat crush of corrugating medium test and tension). An improvement in these parameters was obtained by biopolymer coupling and selected mediator. When using GA, three parameters increased more than 40%, while ring crush increased 120%. For the case of VA, properties were enhanced from 74% to 88% when CPX was added. For 1,2–DHB, there was not found a statistically significant difference between the results in the presence of CPX. Scanning electron microscopy, confocal microscopy, FTIR and (13)C NMR were used in all papers in order to evaluate grafting. Hence, it was possible to correlate polymerization with an improvement of paper’s mechanical properties.