PRODUCTION OF WOOD PULP AND RAYON FROM MESQUITE WOOD

Abstract

Years ago, before there were plastics and synthetic polymers were invented, in fact ,all the way back to the beginning of the earth, nature was using natural polymers to make life possible. Manufacturers don't think of natural polymers in the same way as synthetic polymers because they can't sell them for high profit. However, that doesn't make natural polymers less important; it was proved recently, that they are more important in many ways. The physical properties of natural polymers ,0btained from mesquite wood offer large po- tential as an alternative raw material for the manufacture of variety of man- made such triacetate and viscose rayon . The laboratory tests which we have made during this research , has proved that the high molecular weight polymer (cellulose ) exacted from mesquite wood constitute 42.03% of the total weight of the wood sample . This ratio as compared with the results obtained fiom researches made on other hard wood speeches, and the available literature, mesquite wood can be considered as a good source of pure cellulose which is suitable for manufacturing of man- made fibers . Mesquite woods from different areas of Sudan were pulped under various Kraft pulping conditions to investigate the possibility of the separation of pure cellulose fibers ( wood pulp‘) on industrial scale and to be use as raw material for , manufacturing of paper, cellulose triacetate, and viscose rayon .