Abstract:
Steam explosion treatment is used to modify crop materials such as sugarcane bagasse,
straws asraw fiber materials attributes for pulp and paper production and fiberboard
manufacturing. In particular, the effect of steam presure and retention time on morphology and
lignin, holocellulose and α-cellulose contents of bagasse was investigated. Bagasse were cooked
with saturated steam at presure of 17 and 19 bar for 2 and 5 minutes in a steam explosion batch
reactor. After steam explosion treatments, proportion of large particles decreased, while fiber
bundles increased. Higher steam pressure and longer retention time resulted in more
homogeneous fiber-like material and darker fibers. Chemical analysis of the pulp before and after
steam explosion treatments showed that optimum condition for the production of pulp and paper
from the bagasse fiber is 19 bar with retention time of 2 minutes according to the high
holocellulose and α-cellulose contents and low lignin content. Optimum condition for binderless
fiberboard production is 19 bar with retention time of 5 minutes because of high lignin content
which is a reguired property for gluing the fiber bundle. The severity values of the treatment were
in the range of 3.45-4.05 showing that the greater amount and smaller size of bagasse pulps were
obtained with increasing severity of steam explosion treatment.