Pulp and Paper Bioprocessing

Abstract

The global pulp and paper industry is in physical terms one of the largest industries in the world. It is traditionally known to be a large contributor to environmental pollution owing to its large consumptions of water, energy, and chemicals. Biotechnological methods offer potential opportunities for changing the industry toward more environmentally friendly and efficient operations compared to the traditional methods. Biotechnological processes are environmentally friendly, energy efficient, more specific, and can be used in place of nonbiological processes. The use of biotechnological processes in the pulp and paper industry results in increased pulp yield, improved fiber properties, enhanced paper recycling, reduced processing and environmental problems, and energy efficiency. Many applications of biotechnology in the pulp and paper industry have been commercialized and some are on the verge of commercialization. Applications that have been commercialized are the use of xylanases for bleaching, cellulase‐hemicellulase mixture for fiber modification and deinking, cellulases for improved drainage, lipases for pitch removal, esterases for stickies control, levan hydrolase, proteases, cellulases, and amylases, etc., for slime removal. Many new applications are being studied that include new enzymatic approaches to reduce mechanical pulping energy, new enzymes for kraft pulp bleaching, enzyme sensors for smart paper products, etc. Bio‐based unit operations are usually combined with conventional or new chemical and mechanical unit operations to fully benefit the performance of enzymes. This chapter provides general background on pulp and paper processing and describes the use of microbes/enzymes in each of the processing areas.