A NEW ENVIRONMENTALLY BENIGN TECHNOLOGY AND APPROACH TO BLEACHING KRAFT PULP - POLYOXOMETALATES FOR SELECTIVE DELIGNIFICATION AND WASTE MINERALIZATION

A new technology based on polyoxometalates for bleaching and processin g wood pulp in conjunction with paper manufacture is presented. In fou r Unit Operations not only is kraft pulp selectively delignified by po lyoxometalates in an anaerobic process, but also all organic waste fro m the bleaching step is mineralized to CO2 and H2O by polyoxometalates in a complex aerobic process. The sum of the Unit Operations is the s elective conversion of kraft pulp into a bleached pulp with attractive papermaking profiles (strength indices, mechanical properties, etc.), plus CO2 and H2O. Studies using dimeric lignin models link lignin fra gmentation during anaerobic polyoxometalate delignification to a combi nation of oxidative and hydrolytic steps.