Abstract
Degumming of pre-chlorite treated jute fiber was studied in this paper. The effects of sodium hydroxide concentration, treatment time, temperature, sodium silicate concentration, fiber-to-liquor ratio, penetrating agent TF-107B concentration and degumming agent TF-125A concentration were the process conditions examined. With respect to gum decomposition, fineness and mechanical properties, sodium hydroxide concentration, sodium silicate concentration and treatment time were found to be the most important parameters. An orthogonal L9(34) experiment designed to optimize the conditions for degumming resulted in the selection of the following procedure: sodium hydroxide of 12g/L, sodium silicate of 3g/L, TF-107B of 2g/L, TF-125A of 2g/L, treatment time of 105 min, temperature of 100°C and fiber to liquor ratio of 1:20. The effect of the above degumming process on the removal of impurities was also examined and the results showed that degumming was an effective method for removing impurities, especially hemicellulose.