Pine Needle - An Evaluation of Pulp and Paper Making Potential

 Abstract— In the present studies Pine needles are evaluated for pulp and paper making properties. Different studies reported different composition of Pine needles. The pine needles collected from hilly zones of India has, 43% lignin, 52% holocellulose and 5.8% extractives content. In order to understand the paper making potential, study on pulping, bleaching and paper making properties of pine needle has been carried out. Kraft cooking of pine needle using 24% active alkali resulted into unbleached pulp of kappa number 28 and unbleached pulp yield of 24%. Due to high lignin content the unbleached pulp kappa number is also high. Pulp after DEpD bleaching could be bleached to 75% ISO. Fiber morphological properties of pine needle fiber were also carried out.