Pulping of Non-wood and Its Related Biorefinery Potential in Bangladesh: A Review

Md.   Sarwar   Jahan; Bilkis      Rukhsana; Mir   Mojtaba   Baktash; Laboni      Ahsan; Pedram      Fatehi; Yonghao      Ni

doi:10.2174/13852728113179990065

Abstract

There is a world- wide growing interest in using lignocellulosic raw material for the production of fuels and chemicals, particularly related to the pulp and paper industry, and this is no exception in Bangladesh. On the other hand, Bangladesh and other Southeast- Asian countries are densely populated, forest deficient, thus heavily dependent on agriculture residue for such a purpose.

This study reviews the availability and suitability of nonwood raw materials for pulp production following the biorefinery concept in Bangladesh. The problems related to non-wood pulping are also discussed. Non-woods like bagasse, corn stalks, straw, Saccharum spontaneum etc. are composed of vascular bundle surrounded by parenchyma cell. So they are easy to delignify but create problems in pulp washing, screening, and paper machine runnability due to high drainage resistance (⁰SR). Pre-extraction prior to pulping of these raw materials improved the drainage resistance and also increased the value by extracting acetic acid, chemicals and energy from the preextracted liquor. The amount of non-wood available in Bangladesh is not sufficient to run an economically viable mill based on a single raw material. Research results showed that the organic acid-based fractionation is technically feasible using non-wood to produce pulp, together with lignin and sugars as by-products, which are starting raw materials for biomaterials, fuel and chemicals. Non-wood biomass can be used as the raw material following the integrated biorefinery concept if a suitable pulping process is correctly selected.

Keywords: Non-wood, Biorefinery, Drainage resistance, High ash, High fines, Lignin.

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