Dissolution of Ethylenediamine Pretreated Pulp with High Lignin Content in LiCl/DMSO without Milling

Abstract

Various hardwood and softwood chemical pulps, including those with relatively high lignin content (up to ca. 10.5%), were completely dissolved without milling in lithium chloride/dimethyl sulfoxide (LiCl/DMSO) after a pretreatment with ethylenediamine (EDA). Because milling of the sample is not required, degradation of the cell wall components caused by milling does not take place. After the EDA pretreatment, the crystallinity of the pulps remained as high as the original pulps, although the crystal structure changed. This is the first time that transparent solutions of underivatized pulps with high lignin content were obtained in a simple organic solvent system. Interestingly, even in the case of coarse wood meal (40–80 mesh) about 70% could be dissolved after repeating the dissolving procedure two times. The formation of a pulp–EDA or wood–EDA complex seems to be critical for the dissolution in LiCl/DMSO. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum of the EDA treated pulp solution had good resolution even though the degree of polymerization (DP) of the cellulose in the pulp is very high.