Use of Fungi in Pulping Wood: An Overview of Biopulping Research
Summary (1 min read)
Introduction
- Fresh wood chips destined and stored for pulp production are rapidly colonized by a variety of microorganisms, including many species of fungi.
- They are replaced by fungi that are able to degrade and gain nourishment from the cell wall structural polymers: cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin.
- Biopulping is the concept of deliberately harnessing whiterot fungi for pulping.
- They also are less polluting than chemical methods.
- Making such chemimechanical pulps, however, generates chemical waste streams that mush be treated, and it lowers the pulp yield by removing wood substance (mainly hemicelluloses and lignin).
Past Work on Biopulping
- Early chemical analyses of wood partly decayed by certain white-rot fungi revealed that lignin had often been removed selectively; that is, the cellulose content had increased.
- Both fungi were chosen because they grew and degraded lignin quite rapidly in comparison to other fungi; they also produced copious conidia and thus were easy to manipulate.
- The Swedish researchers made a number of contributions to biopulping (review: Eriksson and Kirk, 1985) .
- They described the growth rates of P. chrysosporium through wood, finding that colonization of pulpwood chips is unlikely to be ratedetermining.
- Akamatsu et al. (1984) found that treatment of wood chips with any of 10 white-rot fungi decreased mechanical pulping energy; with three of the fungi (Trametes sanguinea, T. coccinea, and Coriolus hirsutus), treatment increased paper strength.
Biopulping Consortium Research
- Taken together, the results of these various studies suggested to us in 1986 that biomechanical pulping merited a comprehensive investigation.
- The overall objective of the 5-year consortium research effort is to evaluate the scientific and technical feasibility of using a fungal pretreatment with mechanical pulping to save energy and/or improve pulp and paper properties.
- The Biopulping Consortium research group is divided into six closely coordinated teams.
- Lignin-and cellulase-degrading systems again are the focus.
- Simultaneous investigations have been aimed at understanding the basic mechanism of the beneficial effects of fungal pretreatment.
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Cites background from "Use of Fungi in Pulping Wood: An Ov..."
...details on biopulping research were described in two review articles and the literature cited therein [65, 66 ]....
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References
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"Use of Fungi in Pulping Wood: An Ov..." refers background in this paper
...Subsequent studies with additional fungi and aspen wood chips confirmed the enhancement of paper strength properties and also demonstrated that large energy savings for the pulping are possible (Leatham et al., 1990a, b....
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4 citations
"Use of Fungi in Pulping Wood: An Ov..." refers background in this paper
...At about the same time, a study of the effect of natural decay of pine by white-rot fungi on chemical pulping showed that most paper strength properties increased as the extent of decay increased (Reis and Libby, 1960: Kawase, 1962)....
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