Processing of Miscanthus × giganteus stalks into various soda and kraft pulps. Part I: Chemical composition, types of cells and pulping effects

The weight share of the pith, nodes and internodes in the stalks of Miscanthus, as well as the types of cells in these anatomical parts, were examined. Studies have shown that the pith contains mainly parenchyma cells, nodes—short fibres and palisade parenchyma cells, while internodes contains mainly fibres, which are accompanied by a certain amount of vessels and parenchyma cells. Then the whole stalks of Miscanthus were subjected to pulping using the kraft and soda pulping methods. These studies have shown that hard, regular, soft and very soft kraft pulps can be obtained using a lower amount of active alkali, with comparable or higher screened yield of pulp than is the case of pulping of birch. Furthermore, it was found that the content of knots and shives was lower in the digester hard and regular kraft pulps from Miscanthus compared to birch kraft pulp. Of the two pulping methods studied, kraft pulping gives better results than soda pulping concerning the considerably higher yield of pulp.