Research on utilization of wastewood in our country is urgently required due to low per capita forest area. Pulp mills generally produce a large volume of wastewood. In this investigation, wastewood from under screen preparation line of the Iran Wood and Paper Industries (CHOOKA) was used. The investigation was conducted using environmentally friendly processes, both in cooking and in bleaching. Hence, instead of prehydrolyzed Kraft pulping, prehydrolyzed Soda/AQ process was used. After several preliminary cooks, three final cooking conditions were chosen, labeled as Al (Active Alkality: AA 26%, L/W 9), A2 (AA 28%, L/W 10) and A3 (AA 26%, L/W 10). The fixed variables were prehydrolysis and cooking temperature and times (170 QC, 90 and 150 min. respectively), L/W for prehyprolysis 7.5 and Anthroquinone (AQ) concentration 0.1%. Prepared pulps were deliberated and washed with warm water. These treatments were replicated at least three times and their effects on total yield, screened yield and Kappa No. were statistically analyzed. As a result, A3 was chosen as the optimum treatment. To separate uncooked barkchips, pulps screened with 16 mesh screen, were screened again with 50 mesh screen. In order to the process to be more environmentally friendly, bleaching was performed in 2 sequences with delignification agent, Oxone (X), followed by alkali extraction (E) and finally by an H2O2 sequence (P). The Oxone concentration was 4% and that of H2O2 was 6.5% (based on pulp O.D. weight). Oxone and H2O2 sequence temperature was 70°C; and for extracting, it was 60°C. This is the first time that an Oxone sequence has been used in Iran. The resulting XEXEP-bleached pulp contained 74.6% ALPHACELLULOSE and 0.64% ash. This ALPHACELLULOSE can be mixed with high purity ALPHACELLULOSE to achieve both price reduction and quality improvement.

In the present study, the quality of cellulose extracted from 14 ecotypes (Calotropis procera) growing in Hormozgan, Fars and Bushehr provinces was evaluated to discover its potentials and use in breeding programs. Samples were selected and collected at the flowering stage in June and July 2017. In this study, the extraction and separation of holocellulose and alpha cellulose and fiber dimensions in terms of fiber length and diameter, lumen diameter and cell wall thickness were investigated. Concerning the cellulose quality, among the 14 ecotypes, the highest amount of holocellulose and alpha cellulose was in Hormozgan-Abmah ecotype (54. 59%) Bushehr-Heydariyeh ecotype (61. 1%), respectively. Comparison of mean fiber dimensions showed that the highest-fiber length was in Minab (0. 81) and Tazian (0. 78) ecotypes. The highest-fiber diameter, lumen diameter and cell wall thickness were 34. 87, 23. 58 and 5. 64 microns respectively in the Isin ecotype. In general, the results showed that due to fibers' suitability and its high percentage of cellulose, this species could be comprehensively studied for industrial utilization. Considering the shortage of wood resources and the profitable growth of this specie in the arid southern regions with low water resources, it can be considered as a wood source in the cellulose industry to be widely cultivated.

Corn stalk can be used as an alternative non-wood raw material to produce cellulosic dissolving grade pulp. In this work, the potential of corn stalk in the production of dissolving pulp (alpha-cellulose) was investigated. It was collected from a corn stalk farm of Kermanshah, Iran. The sequences of experimental work were: water and acid prehydrolysis at 160oC for 30min, followed by Kraft pulping at 170oC for 90min, and bleached by HEH & HEHP sequences. The influence of active alkali (14-20%), and sulphidity (10-25%) on the pulp properties such as yield, kappa number, and degree of polymerization was investigated. In optimum conditions (water prehydrolysis; pulping with active alkali of 20%, sulphidity of 25%; and HEH bleaching sequence), the ALPHACELLULOSE content, degree of polymerization, and ash content of the produced dissolving pulp were acceptable: 94.7%, 269 and 1% respectively. The properties of the produced pulp were comparable with the pulp obtained by other sources. Active alkali was the most important irifluent parameter, with respect to delignification, whereas the sulphidity had a minor effect.

The objective in this study was to investigate the effect of a combination of impact modifiers on the mechamical properties as well as morphology of cellulose fiber polypropylene composite. The impact modifier was EPDM (Ethylene – Propylene Dien Copolymer) while the fibers being of ALPHACELLULOSE and wastepaper origin. The elastomer (modifier) was mixed with composite at 5, 7.5 and 10 percent by weight. The fillers were mixed with Polypropylene at 35% (by weight). Results indicated that notched impact strength, tensile and bending strains increased when the elastomer added, but tensile strength, bending strength and modulus of elasticity decreased. The impact modifier did not affect hardness. Adding the fibers improved tensile strength, bending strength, hardness, and modulus of elasticity, but impact strength, tensile and bending strains decreased. In fact, the highest impact strength was obtained by adding 10% elastomer to the composites, however, the highest values for tensile strength, bending strength, hardness and modulus of elasticity were related to treatments with no elastomer (except the pure polymer) Also, to examine the fibers and polymer interfacial surface as well as dispersion of the fibers within the matrix, the samples were studied through scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of some cellulosic materials such as sawdust and ALPHACELLULOSE (cotton linter) for purification industrial and urban wastewater and their effects on the absorption of some elements (No3, Na, K) and heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Zn). Due to very low amounts of chromium, cadmium and nitrates in the wastewater samples, the chromium and cadmium chloride solution with a concentration of 20 ppm and sodium nitrate solution with a concentration of 60 ppm were used. The results showed that among the absorbents, mixture of wood sawdust and alpha-cellulose had the same effect on sodium and zinc absorption compared to sawdust. Absorbents did not affect the potassium uptake from wastewater, but had a significant effect on the absorption of chromium and cadmium. The amount of chromium in the control sample was 27 mgL-1 to 3. 76 mgL-1 after exposure to the sawdust absorbent and 4. 4 mgL-1 in the mixture of sawdust and linter absorbent. The amount of cadmium decreased from 22 mgL-1 in control sample to 1. 5 mgL-1 (coefficient of 93. 18%) after exposure to the mixed sawdust and alpha-cellulose and 0. 88 mgL-1 in sawdust treatment (coefficient of 96%). Absorbents had also no significant effect on nitrate absorption in sodium nitrate solution.