An aqueous composition comprising: sulfuric acid; a heterocyclic compound; and a peroxide. Said composition being capable of delignifying biomass under milder conditions than conditions under which kraft pulping takes place.

The present disclosure relates to cellulose nanomaterials made or derived from tobacco and methods for the production thereof. The tobacco-derived cellulose nanomaterials can be employed in various industrial applications such as film forming applications and solution thickening technologies. In particular, the disclosure is directed to methods for preparing tobacco-derived cellulose nanomaterials using less fibrillation cycles than in the production of wood pulp. The invention includes a method for preparing tobacco derived nanocellulose material comprising receiving a tobacco pulp in a dilute form such that the tobacco pulp is a tobacco pulp suspension with a consistency of less than about 5%; and mechanically fibrillating the tobacco pulp suspension to generate a tobacco derived nanocellulose material having at least one average particle size dimension in the range of about 1 nm to about 100 nm.

A method for separating cellulose from a wood-based raw material including hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin as principal components, in which the wood-based raw material is injected into a dissolution reservoir 1, 100, 300 in which ethylene glycol is stored as a separating agent, and the separating agent in the dissolution reservoir is heated at normal pressure to a temperature in a range of 260 C. to 280 C., and the wood-based raw material is reacted with the separating agent, a hemicellulose component that evaporates from the separating agent is condensed, a pH value of a condensate which changes from an acid value to a neutral value as a temperature of the separating agent increases is monitored, a temperature of the condensate is held at a temperature at which a change in the pH value of the condensate decreases, lignin is dissolved in the separating agent, and crude cellulose that floats in the separating agent is separated and collected.

Described is a method of kraft pulping in which a phenolic compound is added to the cooking step. The phenolic compound is added at a time point between about 5 minutes and about 120 minutes prior to completion of the cooking step. The presence of the phenolic compound increases the extent of delignification in the cooking step.

A method for controlling the deposition of stickies in pulping and papermaking processes comprises adding to fiber pulp or stock an additive comprising an organo-modified siloxane.

Hydrochloric acid is recovered from a lignin composition in a process, comprising providing a particulate lignin composition that comprises lignin, water and hydrochloric acid; contacting the particulate lignin composition with a stream of stripping gas comprising an aprotic gas to obtain an acidified vapor stream that comprises water vapor, hydrochloric acid and aprotic gas; and recovering hydrochloric acid from the acidified vapor stream.

Provided is a method of producing fine cellulose fibers that are nanosized, that have a high crystallinity degree, and that are less vulnerable to fiber shape damage, the method including impregnating cellulose with a fibrillation solution to fibrillate the cellulose without mechanical crushing, and modifying the cellulose. The method of producing cellulose microfibrils of the present invention includes impregnating cellulose with a fibrillation solution containing a carboxylic acid vinyl ester or an aldehyde and an aprotic solvent having a donor number of 26 or more to fibrillate the cellulose. The aldehyde is at least one kind of aldehyde selected from the group consisting of an aldehyde represented by the following formula (1), paraformaldehyde, cinnamaldehyde, perillaldehyde, vanillin, and glyoxal:

R.sup.1CHO(1)

where R.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 16 carbon atoms, an alkenyl group, a cycloalkyl group, or an aryl group.

Disclosed herein are compositions comprising an acid; a modifying agent selected from the group consisting of: sulfamic acid; imidazole; an imidazole derivative; taurine; a taurine derivative; a taurine-related compound; an alkylsulfonic acid; an arylsulfonic acid; triethanolamine; and combinations thereof; a peroxide salt; and a peroxide. Also disclosed herein are compositions comprising an acid; a modifying agent comprising a compound containing an amine group and a compound comprising a sulfonic acid moiety; a peroxide salt; and a peroxide.

An aqueous composition comprising: sulfuric acid; a heterocyclic compound; an alkanesulfonic acid; and a peroxide. Said composition being capable of delignifying biomass under milder conditions than conditions under which kraft pulping takes place.

An aqueous composition comprising: sulfuric acid; an alkanesulfonic acid; and a peroxide. Said composition being capable of delignifying biomass under milder conditions than conditions under which kraft pulping takes place.