Effect of ionic liquid pretreatment on paper physical property and pulp refining performance

Ionic liquids (IL) of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BmimCl) homogeneously mixed with bleached kraft pulp (BKP) were used to investigate the change of paper properties and refining performance under the general conditions. Fiber morphology and paper strength were determined by fiber analyzer and paper physical property tester. The surface morphology and chemical properties of fiber was also performed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results indicated the optimized conditions of BmimCl pretreatment were BmimCl dosage of 1.5 mL/g, the time and temperature of 30 min and 80 °C, respectively. The physical properties of paper and internal bond strength of fiber was improved by BmimCl pretreatment. BmimCl pretreatment facilitated swelling and fibrillation of fiber, increased the crystalline index of fiber and decreased the lignin and extractives on the surface of fiber, which leading to improve fiber strength and tensile strength. For the same refining energy input, saving the maximum refining energy consumption was 14.0 % after BmimCl pretreatment, which is beneficial to improve the application of ionic liquid in pulp and papermaking.