WOOD AND PULP PROPERTIES OF TWO EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS WOOD SAMPLES

This paper reports experimental data about wood chemical composition (extractives and lignin content), fibre characteristics, kraft cooking behaviour and papermaking potential of two wood samples of Eucalyptus globulus (one industrial chip sample and another obtained from a clone tree). The samples were submitted to the kraft cooking and bleaching processes in order to evaluate its pulping potential. The experimental results showed that the clone tree requires milder cooking conditions and exhibits higher pulp yield. The pulp fibres obtained from the clone have higher fibre length and fibre width and lower coarseness, which give higher fibre flexibility and collapsibility. In consequence, structural, mechanical and optical properties of paper are significantly different. In addition, we observed that the fibres from the clone tree are weaker than the corresponding fibres from the industrial sample.