Environmental Impact of Application of Ozone Bleaching for Production of Pulp from Agro Based Fibrous Materials—An Innovative Approach

The pulp and paper sector is facing various issues due to environmental regulatory pressure and expanding market demand, and it is searching for novel solutions to improve product quality and process performance while reducing environmental effects during pulp bleaching. Oxygen delignified wheat straw pulp of kappa number 9.5 was subjected to conventional CEopH1H2, elemental chlorine free (ECF) i.e. D0EpD1 and ozone bleaching sequences at different consistencies to get a final pulp ISO brightness of 85 ± 2% and evaluation of the physical strength properties of the pulp. The effect of green bleaching was also compared with the conventional and ECF bleaching of wheat straw pulp for their pulp characteristics and physical strength properties. The effect of ozone bleaching of wheat straw pulp on bleach effluent characteristics and their load has also been studied and compared with conventional ECF bleaching system used in agro based mills. The present lab study is helpful in understanding the effect of ozone bleaching on agro based raw material pulp in terms of pulp quality. Less consumption of bleaching chemicals with no effluent load demonstrates that ozone is indeed the bleaching chemical of the future for sustainable growth of the Indian pulp and paper industry.