Screening of White-rot Fungi and Characteristics of Bio-degraded TMP

White-rot fungi, which have the ability to degrade selectively lignin in wood, are of great interest in bio-pulping processes. It was already demonstrated that enough lignin can be degraded to cause a decrease in the energy demand for the production of TMP and RGP, if wood chips are pretreated by cellulase-less mutants of white-rot fungi.The degradation of 1st- and 2nd-refined TMP with Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Coprinus cinereus, which were screened among 86 strains in 65 species of main white-rot fungi, was carried out under the optimal conditions at 0.3 rpm.Under the degrading conditions in the presence of glucose and urea, the observed difference was that tear and burst factors of TMP degraded with both fungi are same or increase than each factor of the pulp before the degradation. Degraded 1st-and 2nd-refined TMP had lower brightness values. The former degraded TMP was more easily to bleach with H2O2 or NaOCl· H2O2 than the later degraded pulp, and the brightness value after bleaching was about 80% GE.When one compared degraded TMP with sound TMP, it became evident that the fiber length distribution and fiber flexibility of TMP change by initial bio-degradation.