LABORATORY RESULTS OF TMP AND CTMP TRIALS WITH PINUS-PATULA, P-TECUNUMANII, AND P-CARIBAEA VAR HONDURENSIS

Wood from CAMCORE trials of tropical pines was evaluated at eight year s of age from Colombia, Venezuela, and South Africa. Laboratory result s at Andritz Sprout-Bauer for Pinus patula, P. tecunumanii, and P. car ibaea var. hondurensis indicated that, generally, CTMP was superior to TMP for ISO brightness, physical sheet brightness and lower freeness using less total energy. The TMP process gave higher values for tensil e index and stretch (%) in most cases. The paper strength properties w ere generally higher for P. patula than for P. tecunumanii. The ISO br ightness and physical sheet brightness were often considerably higher for P. patula than for P. tecunumanii. There appears to be considerabl e potential for printing and writing applications of mechanical pulp f rom juvenile pines grown in the tropics.