CHARACTERIZATION OF CHEMICAL AND MECHANICAL PULPS BY PYROLYSIS-GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

Analytical pyrolysis in combination with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry has been used to characterize a number of different high yield pulps and chemical pulps. By comparison of lignin fragments obtained from wood and milled wood lignin (MWL) with those from pulps, characteristic features of lignin in different pulps have been established. These are discussed with a reference to known differences in the chemical structure of lignin in different types of pulps. Furthermore, analytical pyrolysis is an attractive technique for rapid analysis of the sugar composition in polysaccharidic materials. For chemical pulps, a satisfactory correlation between the relative distribution of carbohydrate pyrolysis products and the results from sugar analysis through acid hydrolysis was obtained.