DELIGNIFICATION KINETICS OF SODA PULPING OF KENAF

Kenaf (Hibiscus Cannabinus) is an alternative, non wood fiber source f or pulping and papermaking. Delignification kinetics of extractive fre e samples from three fractions of kenaf procured from Mississippi Stat e University, U.S.A have been studied. The extractive free samples wer e cooked at three different temperatures: 140 degrees C, 155 degrees C , and 170 degrees C with soda cooking liquor. The results indicate tha t the activation energies for the bark, core, and whole kenaf are 68 k J/mole, 91 kJ/mole, and 75 kJ/mole respectively. These are significant ly lower than the reported values for the conifers. The delignificatio n selectivity for the three samples was also investigated.