Characterization of industrial and laboratory pulp fibres using HCl, cellulase and FiberMaster analysis

A new method to measure dislocations and other weak points in spruce pulp fibres involving hydrochloric acid induced cleavage of the fibres and analyses of "length weighted fibre length distribution" has been developed. The method was used to compare fibre lengths and cleavage per fibre for spruce kraft pulp fibres from mill and laboratory pulps used in strength delivery investigations. After HCl treatment of the fibres at 80 degrees C for 4h at pH 0 and FiberMaster analysis, it was found that mill fibres gave shorter fibres compared with laboratory fibres. Thus HCl treatment can be used to differentiate between industrial and laboratory fibres, although both fibre types were made from the same batch of spruce wood chips. Cellulase (EG I + CBH 1, pH 5) acting mainly on the fibre surface did not distinguish between Mill and Lab fibres