Title
Comparative study of bamboo shoot shell fibers degummed by improved sodium percarbonate and alkaline-oxygen methods
Authors
YINZHI YANG, DUOQING FU, YUYANG WU, YUHANG YANG, YANG ZHANG, XINWANG CAO and GUANGMING CAI

Received November 1, 2022
Published Volume 57 Issue 3-4 March-April
Keywords bamboo shoot shell fiber, degumming rate, sodium percarbonate, alkali-oxygen bath, chemical composition

Abstract
Degumming is an essential and critical process for manufacturing bast fiber. It is generally believed to be an expensive process and causes some serious environmental problems. Therefore, it is imperative to develop novel or improved environmentally friendly degumming methods. Herein, we report a comparative study of degumming performance of bamboo shoot shell fibers treated by alkaline-oxygen and sodium percabonate, respectively, after dilute alkali pretreatment. Results indicate that fibers produced by the improved alkaline-oxygen method offered relatively higher cellulose content (71.67%) and crystallinity (65.12%) than those produced by the sodium percarbonate method, which yielded cellulose content of 64.42% and crystallinity of 60.07%. It was further observed that the improved alkaline-oxygen process did not only exhibit a better degumming rate, but also was relatively efficient.