Application of IR-ATR spectroscopy to assess the component composition of paper

A technology for determining the fiber composition of paper using IR-ATR spectroscopy is proposed and described, allowing for increased rapidity and representativeness of the measurements. The technology includes microscopic identification of a certain type of fiber in the paper composition; and determination of the percentage content of fibers other than hardwood and softwood kraft pulp, using the obtained calibration dependencies. The experiment involved standard laboratory handmade sheets of two types with different fiber compositions: from softwood and hardwood bleached commercial kraft pulp (in a 50 : 50 ratio) with the addition of bleached chemical-thermomechanical pulp instead of hardwood and softwood in an amount of 5 to 40%; and from unbleached kraft softwood (kappa number 21) and hardwood (kappa number 16) pulp, into the composition of which unbleached bamboo pulp (kappa number 17) was introduced in an amount of 10 to 50 %. Using IR-ATR spectroscopy, it was found that an increase in the proportion of bleached chemical-thermomechanical pulp or bamboo pulp leads to systematic changes in the spectral characteristics of the paper, due to differences in the content and composition of lignin, hemicelluloses and extractive substances of the paper components. To quantitatively assess the changes in the spectra, the intensity ratios of the analytical bands were selected that are independent of the spectrum recording conditions: 1 500, 1 400, 1 110 cm–1 for bleached chemical-thermomechanical pulp and 1 070, 667, 1 736, 1 580 cm–1 for bamboo pulp. Based on the established calibration relationships, regression equations were derived for determining the bleached chemical-thermomechanical pulp or bamboo pulp content in paper samples based on the intensity ratio of analytical bands in IR spectra. The proposed method significantly outperforms traditional chemical and microscopic approaches in terms of speed, reproducibility, and labor costs and can be useful in pulp and paper mills for the rapid monitoring of compositions.

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