The presently disclosed subject matter relates to an industrial system for processing various plant materials to produce marketable materials. Particularly, the system integrates subcritical water extraction technology and includes a pre-processing module and a two-stage extractor (processing module) with constant control of temperature, pressure, and/or residence time. In some embodiments, the final product of the disclosed system can include feedstock constituents for biofuel production (sugars and/or oil), biochar, raw materials for various industries (such as pulp for manufacturing paper or cellulose for use in various industries). The disclosed system can be modular or non-modular, stationary or mobile, and can include prefabricated elements with programmed automatic or manual operation so that it can be easily moved and/or assembled on site.

The presently disclosed subject matter relates to an industrial system for processing various plant materials to produce marketable materials. Particularly, the system integrates subcritical water extraction technology and includes a pre-processing module and a two-stage extractor (processing module) with constant control of temperature, pressure, and/or residence time. In some embodiments, the final product of the disclosed system can include feedstock constituents for biofuel production (sugars and/or oil), biochar, raw materials for various industries (such as pulp for manufacturing paper or cellulose for use in various industries). The disclosed system can be modular or non-modular, stationary or mobile, and can include prefabricated elements with programmed automatic or manual operation so that it can be easily moved and/or assembled on site.

A method of producing chemical pulp including at least the following steps: a) wood chips or other comminuted ligno-cellulosic fibrous material is treated with a polysulfide-containing cooking liquor in an impregnation stage at a temperature of 90-145 C., and b) slurry of fibrous material from step a) is heated into cooking temperature and cooked for producing pulp having a desired kappa number. After step a) mercaptide ions are added into the slurry of fibrous material and the fibrous material is treated at cooking temperature in step b).

The present invention relates to an improved process for producing chemical cellulose pulp wherein biopolymers are added immediately before, during or after a bleaching step, depending on pulp characteristics and on process conditions used. The biopolymers according to the present invention are starches chemically modified by an etherification reaction. This treatment results in a differentiated pulp having improved physical, chemical and mechanical properties when compared with cellulose pulps obtained by traditional processes. The use of said biopolymer alters the relations between important pulp properties rendering their application in papermaking process advantageous. This differentiation increases the possibilities of use and also of new applications, including for the substitution of pulps produced from other cellulose sources. Thus, the present invention also relates to methods of making paper, such as printing, writing, decorative, special or tissue-type papers, through the use of the cellulose pulps modified by the above process.

The disclosure relates to the technical field of dissolving pulp preparation, and particularly relates to a method for producing acetate grade dissolving pulp utilizing poplar residual slabs. The method comprises the following steps: adding an auxiliary agent for prehydrolysis, performing a Soda/AQ cooking I segment, performing a Soda/AQ cooking II segment, performing OpD.sub.QE.sub.PP bleaching and performing enzyme coprocessing, thereby preparing high-purity high-reactivity poplar residual slab acetate grade dissolving pulp. In the method, used chemicals are clean and environmental friendly, and production process is clean.

Disclosed are non-wood pulps having a fiber length greater than about 1.70 mm and a brightness of about 80% or greater. The relatively high degree of brightness is achieved without a loss of fiber length or pulp yield. The high degree of brightness and relatively long fiber length make the pulps well suited for the manufacture of wet-laid fibrous products, particularly wet-laid tissue products. The pulps may be prepared from plants of the family Asparagaceae by mechanical pulping and more preferably by a chemi-mechanical pulping using a sodium hydroxide alkaline peroxide solution where the primary pulp is cleaned to reduce debris prior to bleaching. Preferably the cleaned primary pulp has less than about 5 wt % debris prior to bleaching.

The invention relates to a process for producing a dissolving pulp from a cellulosic starting material using the kraft process, comprising the step of cooking the starting material with a cooking liquor. The process according to the invention characterized in that the starting material is exposed to a steam treatment prior to cooking and that the pulp obtained by cooking is subjected to cold caustic extraction (CCE) in the course of further processing.

The invention relates to a process for producing a dissolving pulp from a cellulosic starting material using the kraft process, comprising the step of cooking the starting material with a cooking liquor. The process according to the invention characterized in that the starting material is exposed to a steam treatment prior to cooking and that the pulp obtained by cooking is subjected to cold caustic extraction (CCE) in the course of further processing.

A method of increasing the throughput and/or decreasing the energy usage of a pulping process includes the steps of providing a plurality of lignocellulosic chips, providing a refining composition, applying the refining composition to the plurality of lignocellulosic chips, and mechanically refining the plurality of lignocellulosic chips to form pulp. The refining composition includes water and a lubricating additive including the reaction product of a sugar and an alcohol. The step of applying the refining composition to the lignocellulosic chips is conducted less than 5 minutes prior to, or concurrently with, the step of mechanically refining the wood chips to form pulp.

The presently disclosed subject matter relates to an industrial system for processing various plant materials to produce marketable materials. Particularly, the system integrates subcritical water extraction technology and includes a pre-processing module and a two-stage extractor (processing module) with constant control of temperature, pressure, and/or residence time. In some embodiments, the final product of the disclosed system can include feedstock constituents for biofuel production (sugars and/or oil), biochar, raw materials for various industries (such as pulp for manufacturing paper or cellulose for use in various industries). The disclosed system can be modular or non-modular, stationary or mobile, and can include prefabricated elements with programmed automatic or manual operation so that it can be easily moved and/or assembled on site.