Fiber Composition of Packaging Grade Papers As Determined by The Graff "C" Staining Test
Fiber Composition of Packaging Grade Papers As Determined by The Graff "C" Staining Test
Fiber Composition of Packaging Grade Papers As Determined by The Graff "C" Staining Test
and
José-Vicente Oliver
Head of Wood Technology and Biotechnology Department
AIDIMA (Wood, Furniture and Packaging Technology Institute)
Technology Park of Valencia
13 Benjamin Franklin, P.O.Box 50
46980 Valencia, Spain
(Received March 2005)
ABSTRACT
A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the fiber components of 15 representative papers that are used
for the production of corrugated board was carried out by the Graff “C” staining test. The method of
processing of softwood, hardwood, and nonwood fibers was determined under a light microscope by their
color reactions with the stain. All papers, due to the use of recycled pulp raw materials in their manu-
facturing, were found to incorporate in their furnish fibers that had been produced with a variety of
pulping processes: chemical, mechanical, and semi-mechanical. The recycled-based papers (recycled-liner
and recycled-medium) were proved to be the most variable comprising 12 – 15 different fiber components,
while in some of the semi-chemicals only up to 7 components were identified. The weight percentages of
the fiber components calculated by the application of weight factors showed that in almost all papers the
most important fiber component from a quantitative standpoint was hardwood unbleached kraft followed
by softwood unbleached kraft. Besides hardwood unbleached semi-chemical pulp and mechanical soft-
wood pulp that were also plentiful in the papers, there was a smaller number of other components which
sum, however, accounted for a significant fraction in the total furnish weight. The results taken on the total
softwood, hardwood, and nonwood fibers content of the papers demonstrate that Graff “C” staining test
is adequate to analyze both the structure and quality of packaging grade papers in practical industrial
testing.
Keywords: Fiber analysis, Graff “C” stain, chemical pulp, semi-chemical pulp, mechanical pulp, re-
cycled fibers, packaging.
ensure a satisfactory strength of packages de- supply and to utilize the available resources in
spite the increase of recycled paper as the main an optimal manner.
fibrous component (packaging grade papers con-
tain 60–100% recycled fiber). Recycled fibers
MATERIALS AND METHODS
tend to be broken or damaged, and they have
different physical properties than virgin fibers Sample selection for microscopy
(e.g. microfibrils on the surface of fibers tend to
be collapsed) due to irreversible hardening or Containerboard papers belong to two groups:
hornification occurring during drying and rewet- linerboards and corrugated medium, which form
ting (Howard and Bichard 1992). These differ- the flat faces and the periodic fluted core of
ences in fiber properties contribute to weaker corrugated board structural panels, respectively.
interfiber bonding and hence to lower quality Linerboards are available in three basic forms
(strength) in recycled paper or paperboard prod- (common names): kraft-liner, test-liner and re-
ucts (Ince 2004). Therefore, the use of additional cycled-liner. Kraft-liner is made mainly from
process technology is necessary (mechanical re- virgin softwood and hardwood fibers but also
fining, coatings, sizing, bonding adhesives etc.) includes some recycled fibers (e.g. clippings
to compensate for inherent disadvantages of re- from corrugated board manufacture or from old
cycled fibers, adding to costs. corrugated containers). Test-liner consists
A step towards a more economical and effec- mainly of recycled fibers, which come in many
tive utilization of paper and paper products in different grades and qualities from corrugated
packaging can be the reliable characterization plants, stores, offices, and households. In test-
(qualitative and quantitative as to source) of raw liners the one face is usually of kraft-liner qual-
pulp materials, which will allow the selection of ity, and the other is from selected recycled fibers
the appropriate raw material for each end-use. that increase the quality of the sheet. Recycled-
The necessity of putting more emphasis on a liner is made from recycled fibers and it has
better classification of recovered paper quality is lower quality than test-liner. There are two types
not until now a sufficiently explored practice in of corrugating medium: semi-chemical and re-
the industry (García 1988). It is well known that cycled-medium. Semi-chemical is a virgin-
the production methodology (chemical, me- based medium and is increasingly used for spe-
chanical, and chemical-mechanical pulping) af- cial purposes, for example, in humid conditions.
fects the fiber bonding ability, and as a result, The main virgin fiber used to manufacture semi-
the strength of paper and paperboard properties chemical corrugating medium is semi-chemical
(Mohlin 1989). For example, chemical pulps hardwood, which is cheaper than softwood and
(kraft and sulfite) have better and more uniform gives good resistance to forces perpendicular to
fiber quality, with generally less lignin or other the flutes (the short hardwood fibers are less
wood constituents and proportionately more cel- flexible than softwood fibers and give greater
lulose fiber and more intact fibers than mechani- stiffness to the corrugated structure). Recycled-
cal and semi-chemical pulps. Kraft pulp typi- medium is the multipurpose medium most fre-
cally produces a stronger sheet of paper or pa- quently used and represents the lowest grade,
perboard (Ince 2004). which has been heavily recycled.
The objective of the present work was to Fifteen different packaging grade papers
quantify the types of fibers on the basis of pulp- were selected to cover all the above qualities of
ing processes in a variety of packaging grade linerboard (3 kraft-liners, 1 test-liner, and 3 re-
papers used as linerboard and corrugating me- cycled-liners) and corrugating medium (5 semi-
dium for corrugated board manufacturing in chemicals and 3 recycled-medium) and to rep-
Spain. Information on the actual furnish compo- resent all the variety of papers available in the
sition of packaging materials is expected to help market at the moment for the production of cor-
the packaging industry to evaluate its sources of rugated board in Spain. The papers were pro-
Adamopoulos and Oliver—FIBER COMPOSITION OF PACKAGING GRADE PAPERS 569
vided by representative Spanish paper manufac- zinc chloride dissolved in 50 ml of water) and
turers. The characteristics of the papers are 12.5 ml of iodine solution (0.90 g of potassium
shown in Table 1. iodide and 0.65 g of iodine dissolved in 50 ml of
water). The mix was stored in a dark-colored,
glass-stoppered dropping bottle, and after a leaf
Microslide preparation and staining
of iodine was added, it was kept in dark. Before
Qualitative and quantitative determination of use, the stain was checked with a reference
the fiber components of paper as regards the sample of ECF bleached kraft pulp of Eucalyp-
method of pulping processes is carried out under tus globulus that was provided by the company
the microscope on the basis of color reactions of ENCE (Empresa Nacional Celulosa Español).
fibers stained by various stains (Isenberg 1958). For each of the papers, microscope slides
Among the several staining tests described in were prepared with fibers as for usual fiber
ISO 9184-2: 1990, which are used to distinguish analysis in accordance with ISO 9184-1: 1990.
the various pulping processes of fibers by color A representative small quantity (about 0.25 g)
change, the Graff “C” staining test was selected from different parts of the papers was torn into
for having the largest field of application, nec- small pieces, placed in a small beaker, and
essary for the high variable packaging papers. boiled in water for a few minutes. The softened
Graff “C” stain is suggested for general analy- pieces were shaken vigorously in a large tube
sis, while other stains are used for specific pur- with the addition of some water until they were
poses or to confirm results obtained with the “C” thoroughly disintegrated. The dispersed fiber
stain (Spearing and Dressler 1954; Strelis and suspension was diluted to a concentration of
Kennedy 1967; Parham and Gray 1990). Fresh about 0.05% (wt./vol.), and then 0.5 ml of the
Graff “C” stain was prepared according to ISO suspension was transferred with a pipette onto
9184-4: 1990 and consisted of 20 ml of alumi- clean slides placed on a hot plate. After slides
nium chloride solution (40 g of aluminium chlo- were completely dried, staining of the fibers was
ride hexahydrate dissolved in 100 ml of water), performed by adding 2 or 3 drops of Graff “C”
10 ml of calcium chloride solution (100 g of stain to the fiber field on each slide and then
calcium chloride dissolved in 100 ml of water), covered with a cover glass in such a way as to
10 ml of zinc chloride solution (100 g of dry avoid air bubbles. The slides were allowed to
Linerboards
Kraft-liner KL1 Mainly virgin kraft fibers 228 0.293
Kraft-liner KL2 Mainly virgin kraft fibers 185 0.258
Kraft-liner KL3 Mainly virgin kraft fibers 298 0.437
Test-liner TL 1 ply of kraft-liner quality and 1 ply of 124 0.195
selected recycled fibers
Recycled-liner RL1 Recycled fibers 126 0.194
Recycled-liner RL2 Recycled fibers 112 0.182
Recycled-liner RL3 Recycled fibers 152 0.228
Corrugating medium
Semi-chemical SC1 Mainly virgin semi-chemical fibers 161 0.256
Semi-chemical SC2 Mainly virgin semi-chemical fibers 166 0.271
Semi-chemical SC3 Virgin semi-chemical and recycled fibers 172 0.269
Semi-chemical SC4 Virgin semi-chemical and recycled fibers 150 0.221
Semi-chemical SC5 Mainly virgin semi-chemical fibers 165 0.264
Recycled-medium RM1 Heavily recycled fibers 111 0.189
Recycled-medium RM2 Heavily recycled fibers 107 0.172
Recycled-medium RM3 Heavily recycled fibers 91 0.144
570 WOOD AND FIBER SCIENCE, OCTOBER 2006, V. 38(4)
stand 1–2 minutes and then bringing the long TABLE 2. Color chart for Graff “C” stain used for the
edges of the slides into contact with a blotter the identification of pulping processes of fibers in paper, board
and pulps (taken from ISO 9184-4: 1990).a
surplus stain was drained off. The above proce-
dure produced a total count of between 200 and Type of pulp Color
1994, is applicable to pulps that do not contain stain reactions (pulping processes) and morpho-
more than 5% of other fibers with an essentially logical characteristics of fibers (softwood,
different weight factor. The great variety of dif- hardwood, nonwood fibers). As expected due to
ferent types of fibers in the examined papers, the use of recycled pulp raw materials, all pa-
together with the fact that the actual pulps used pers incorporated in their furnish fibers that
in the papers were not available, precluded any have been produced with a variety of pulping
attempt of determining separate weight factors processes: chemical, mechanical, and semi-
for each fiber category. Consequently, the chemical. Figure 1 shows selected photos of
weight factors used in this study are predeter- diverse stain reactions of fibers revealing the
mined literature values recommended by ISO method of processing. As a result of this vari-
9184-1: 1990 and are given in Table 3. ability, packaging grade papers were found to
The total fiber count of each category was contain 6–15 different fiber components exclud-
multiplied by its respective weight factor from ing the traces (see Table 4). The recycled based
Table 3 in order to obtain the equivalent weights, papers proved to be the most variable, compris-
and then their percentages by weight of the total ing 12–14 components in the case of recycled-
weight were calculated. The weight percentages liners and 13 – 15 in the case of recycled-
were reported to the nearest whole number, medium. Kraft-liners and the test-liner TL also
while percentages less than 2% were reported as exhibited significant variability, and consisted of
traces (contaminating fibers). 9–13 components; as well as two of the semi-
chemicals, SC3 and SC4, both with 14 compo-
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION nents. Semi-chemical SC1, SC2, and SC5 were
Qualitative analysis the less variable papers, having 6–7 fiber com-
ponents.
Table 4 presents the different fiber compo- It should be underlined that distinguishing the
nents identified in the papers on the basis of pulping processes is a difficult task due to the
many shades obtained by the Graff “C” stain on
TABLE 3. Assignment of weight factors to the different fiber all kinds of fibers (softwood, hardwood, and
categories (type of pulping) according to predetermined
values recommended by ISO 9184-1: 1990.
nonwood fibers). For example, the similar tones
of blue developed in the case of hardwood fi-
Fiber category Weight factor bers, and yellow and brown in the case of soft-
Softwoods wood fibers could easily lead to erroneous con-
Unbleached kraft and sulfite 1.0a clusions. It was not unusual that slight alter-
Bleached kraft and sulfite 0.9a
Dissolving grade pulp 0.85
ations in the colors of Table 2 were noted, which
Semi-chemical pulp 1.4 can be attributed not only to the inhomogeneity
Mechanical pulp 1.5b of the processes but also to the chemical addi-
Hardwoods tives in the papers. Therefore, for a more accu-
Chemical pulp 0.5c rate interpretation of colors, previous experience
Semi-chemical pulp 0.9
Mechanical pulp 0.9
acquired by testing of a wide variety of pulp
Nonwood fibers types as well as knowledge of fiber morphology
Grasses unbleached chemical pulp 0.6d was applied.
Grasses bleached chemical pulp 0.4d
Rag 0.8e
a
Weight factor recommmended for most of the papermaking softwood Quantitative analysis
species.
b
c
Average of weight factors of groundwood and thermo-mechanical pulp. The weight percentages of fiber components
Average of weight factors of hardwood species identified in the papers,
mainly eucalyptus, poplar, birch and beech (identification was based on
calculated in the papers by the application of
d
the presence of different vessel elements). weight factors together with the number of fibers
Average of weight factors of straw and esparto (bleached and unbleached).
e
Average of weight factors of bast fibers (flax and jute), leaf fibers (abaca
counted for each category are given in Table 4.
and sisal) and fruit fibers (cotton staple and cotton linters). In all papers, the chemical unbleached kraft pro-
572
TABLE 4. Percentage by weight of fiber components of packaging grade papers.a
Weightc (%)
Linerboards Corrugating medium
Fiber componentb KL1 KL2 KL3 TL RL1 RL2 RL3 SC1 SC2 SC3 SC4 SC5 RM1 RM2 RM3
Softwoods
Chem. pulp
Unbleached kraft 32 (147) 29 (133) 49 (244) 25 (116) 12 (51) 13 (55) 15 (64) <2 (5) <2 (6) 14 (59) 9 (37) 2 (9) 17 (75) 15 (66) 14 (58)
Bleached kraft 4 (22) 5 (23) 2 (12) 5 (28) 5 (23) 3 (15) 5 (22) <2 (7) <2 (3) 4 (18) 6 (29) <2 (8) 4 (17) 7 (32) 5 (24)
Unbleached sulfite 5 (24) — 5 (27) 4 (18) 2 (7) 2 (7) 4 (18) — — 2 (9) 3 (14) <2 (2) 6 (24) 2 (9) 2 (8)
Bleached sulfite 4 (21) <2 (3) 4 (20) 5 (27) 2 (11) <2 (7) 3 (12) <2 (1) <2 (3) 2 (10) 2 (10) <2 (8) 3 (16) 3 (12) <2 (6)
Semi-chem. pulp 2 (6) 10 (32) <2 (4) 2 (5) 2 (7) 3 (10) <2 (3) 6 (25) 4 (17) 10 (32) 3 (9) 3 (12) 2 (6) 3 (10) 2 (6)
Mechanical pulp 3 (8) 4 (13) 5 (15) 6 (18) 6 (17) 6 (18) 7 (21) <2 (3) 3 (9) 3 (8) 8 (22) <2 (2) 9 (25) 9 (25) 7 (20)
Sub-total 49 (228) 48 (204) 66 (322) 47 (212) 29 (116) 27 (112) 34 (140) 9 (41) 9 (38) 35 (136) 31 (121) 9 (41) 41 (163) 39 (154) 31 (122)
Hardwoods
Chem. pulp
Unbleached kraft 33 (312) 34 (308) 20 (196) 27 (250) 37 (317) 42 (397) 32 (270) 2 (26) 3 (29) 24 (207) 30 (256) 4 (44) 36 (312) 30 (258) 33 (276)
Bleached kraftd 4 (35) 2 (22) <2 (13) 3 (29) 5 (40) 5 (48) 4 (35) <2 (5) <2 (7) 3 (26) 5 (40) 2 (16) 3 (28) 7 (61) 7 (58)
Unbleached sulfite <2 (8) <2 (3) 2 (17) 3 (25) <2 (12) 2 (21) 4 (38) 4 (50) 4 (41) 2 (18) 2 (15) 5 (50) 2 (16) <2 (7) <2 (11)
Bleached sulfite 4 (35) 4 (33) 3 (26) 5 (50) 7 (56) 5 (45) 6 (55) 2 (22) <2 (3) 6 (51) 8 (68) <2 (15) 3 (27) 5 (40) 4 (37)
Unbleached 4 (23) 5 (27) 5 (27) 9 (46) 14 (65) 9 (48) 13 (62) 77 (496) 76 (457) 21 (101) 16 (76) 78 (448) 6 (27) 9 (43) 15 (70)
Semi-chem.
Mechanical pulp <2 (2) <2 (6) <2 (5) 3 (14) <2 (5) 2 (11) <2 (6) 4 (26) 4 (21) 2 (10) 2 (11) <2 (2) 3 (13) 2 (11) 3 (15)
Sub-total 47 (417) 47 (399) 31 (284) 49 (414) 64 (495) 65 (570) 61 (466) 90 (625) 87 (558) 58 (413) 62 (466) 90 (575) 53 (423) 54 (420) 63 (467)
Nonwood fibers
Grasses
Unbleached — 2 (12) <2 (6) 2 (12) <2 (9) 3 (22) 2 (12) — — <2 (6) <2 (6) — 2 (16) <2 (6) 2 (11)
WOOD AND FIBER SCIENCE, OCTOBER 2006, V. 38(4)
chem. pulp
Bleached 2 (22) 2 (26) <2 (12) <2 (14) 3 (30) 2 (27) <2 (15) — <2 (4) 3 (27) 4 (38) <2 (6) 2 (17) 3 (29) 2 (18)
chem. pulp
Rage 2 (11) <2 (7) <2 (8) <2 (8) 3 (14) 3 (12) 2 (8) <2 (5) 4 (22) 4 (21) 3 (16) <2 (2) 2 (13) 3 (17) 2 (12)
Sub-total 4 (33) 5 (45) 3 (26) 4 (34) 7 (53) 8 (61) 5 (35) <2 (5) 4 (26) 7 (54) 7 (60) <2 (8) 6 (46) 7 (52) 6 (41)
Total fiber count 678 648 632 660 664 743 641 671 622 603 647 624 632 626 630
a
Fiber counts in parenthesis.
b
Classification according to application of Graff “C” stain and morphological characteristics of fibers.
c
Percentages less than 2% are traces (contaminating fibers).
d
Or bleached semi-chemical.
e
Bast fibers, leaf fibers and cotton.
Adamopoulos and Oliver—FIBER COMPOSITION OF PACKAGING GRADE PAPERS 573
FIG. 1. Identification of pulping processes on the basis of the stain reactions of fibers with the Graff “C ” stain in papers KL1
(A), TL (B), SC1 (C), RM1 (D), RM3 (E) and RL2 (F). Arrows, pitch content of ray cells that has stained yellow indicating the
presence of unbleached sulfite softwood pulp; suk, softwood unbleached kraft; huk, hardwood unbleached kraft; hus, hardwood
unbleached sulfite; sm, softwood mechanical; ssc, softwood semi-chemical; husc, hardwood unbleached semi-chemical; gu, grass
unbleached; hbk/s, hardwood bleached kraft or hardwood bleached semi-chemical; sbk, softwood bleached kraft; sus, softwood
unbleached sulfite; hm, hardwood mechanical; r, rag. The color chart for Graff “C” stain is given in Table 2. Scale bars ⳱ 180 m.
574 WOOD AND FIBER SCIENCE, OCTOBER 2006, V. 38(4)
cess proved to be the major pulping method both content in the papers. Except for kraft-liners, in
of softwood (9–49%) and hardwood fibers (20– all other papers hardwood fibers were found to
42%), except the semi-chemical process in pa- be the main fiber component varying from 47–
pers SC1, SC2, and SC5. In almost all papers the 90% per weight. The stiff kraft-liners had
most important fiber component from a quanti- greater softwood content than hardwood, up to a
tative standpoint was hardwood unbleached weight of 66% (paper KL3). Nonwood fibers
kraft followed by softwood unbleached kraft. entering the manufacturing process through re-
However, the above was not observed in kraft- cycling comprise a significant fiber component
liner KL3 with softwood unbleached kraft (49%) in most of the packaging grade papers as their
being the main fiber component and in the semi- percentage by weight varied between 3–8%. Pa-
chemicals SC1, SC2, and SC5 having hardwood pers with higher weight percentages were the
unbleached semi-chemical as principal compo- recycled based (recycled-liners from 5% to 7%
nent (77%, 76%, and 78%, respectively). Hard- and recycled-medium from 6% to 7%) and the
wood unbleached semi-chemical fibers were semi-chemicals SC3, SC4 (both with 7%). Only
also abundant in the other papers, and their in the semi-chemical papers SC1 and SC5 were
weight percentage varied from 4% (paper KL1) nonwood fibers found to be a trivial component
to 21% (paper SC3). Mechanical softwood pulp (percentages less than 2%).
was plentiful in the papers, and the highest val-
ues (7–9%) were determined in the recycled-
CONCLUSIONS
medium papers.
Mechanical hardwood pulp (maximum weight The methodology (proper differentiation of
percentage 4%) and semi-chemical softwood the colors, fiber definition and counting and
pulp, with the exception of papers KL2 and SC3 weight factor selection) involved weak assump-
both with 10%, were minor components. Also tions associated with potential errors, which are
small (2–6% per weight) was the share of soft- however inherent in any fiber analysis (Parham
wood and hardwood fibers produced with the and Gray 1990).
unbleached sulfite process, and the same oc- Packaging grade papers, linerboards, and cor-
curred with bleached kraft and sulfite pulp (2– rugating medium incorporate different types of
8% per weight). As for the nonwood fibers, the fibers that have been produced with a great va-
papers contained mainly bleached pulp from riety of pulping processes. The phenomenon is
grasses and rag (up to 4% per weight), while expected to be more severe in the future due to
unbleached grass fibers were usually absent or the increasing recycling rates set by environ-
traces. These minor components reflected the mental and economic pressure and, therefore
heterogeneous raw pulp materials used for the advanced methods are needed for a better evalu-
production of the papers, though their sum ac- ation of the heterogeneous raw pulp materials.
counted for a significant fraction in the total fur- As industrial packaging is based on the char-
nish weight. That was to a large extent apparent acteristics of its constituent fibers, information
in the recycled based papers (recycled-liners and on the fiber composition of the variety of grade
recycled-medium), test-liner TL and in two papers is of primary importance for a continual
semi-chemicals, SC3 and SC4. The latter find- control of fiber sources. The Graff “C” staining
ing, together with the fact that semi-chemical test is actually used mainly to assure the pur-
fiber content was not the highest in the total chasers that the composition of a given paper
weight of papers SC3 and SC4, highlighted the product is in accordance with the specifications
increasing trend of using recycled fibers also in (García 1988). The results of this study show
the production of semi-chemical grades. that it can also be used successfully as a diag-
Besides the above results on the method of nostic method for assessing the potential quality
processing of fibers, this study has determined distribution of fibers from different sources. For
the softwood, hardwood, and nonwood fibers example, the determination of the total weight of
Adamopoulos and Oliver—FIBER COMPOSITION OF PACKAGING GRADE PAPERS 575
inferior fibers in the variable raw pulp materials papeles. Universitat Politécnica de Cataluna, Terrassa,
can lead to an estimation of the quality of the España.
GRAFF, J. H. 1940. Weight factors of beaten pulps. Paper
produced papers and to a prediction of the most Trade J. 110(2):37 – 40.
efficient blend of fibers in order to achieve a HOWARD, R. C., AND W. BICHARD. 1992. The basic effects of
desired end product. recycling on pulp properties. J. Pulp and Paper Sci.
Results from the Graff “C” staining test refer 18(4):J151.
not only to the pulping method of fibers but also INCE, P. J. 2004. Fiber resources. Pages 877 – 883 in J. Bur-
ley, J. Evans, and J. A. Youngquist, eds. Encyclopedia of
to the total softwood, hardwood, and nonwood forest sciences, Vol. 2. Elsevier Academic Press, Oxford,
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that Graff “C” staining test is adequate to ana- ISENBERG, I. H. 1958. Pulp and paper microscopy, 3rd ed.
lyze both the structure and quality of packaging Institute of Paper Chemistry, Appleton, WI.
grade papers in practical industrial testing. Be- ISO Standard (1990) 9184-1. Paper, board and pulps. Fiber
furnish analysis. Part 1: General method.
sides the physical-mechanical characterization ISO Standard (1990) 9184-2. Paper, board and pulps. Fiber
of paper and corrugated board (Markström furnish analysis. Part 2: Staining guide.
1988), Graff “C” staining test can be a comple- ISO Standard (1990) 9184-4. Paper, board and pulps. Fiber
mentary test to evaluate the packaging behavior furnish analysis. Part 4: Graff “C” staining test.
depending on the grade papers composition. ISO Standard (1994) 9184-7. Paper, board and pulps. Fiber
furnish analysis. Part 7: Determination of weight factor.
LAW, K. N., J. L. VALADE, AND J. QUAN. 1996. Effects of
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS high yield pulps. Part I: Hardwood pulps. Tappi 79(3):
167 – 174.
This study has been carried out within the MABEE, W. 1998. The importance of recovered fibers in
framework of a EU Marie Curie Postdoctoral global fiber supply. Unasylva 49(193).
Fellowship titled: “Characterization of packag- MARKSTRÖM, H. 1988. Testing methods and instruments for
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study of fiber composition” (contract number MOHLIN, U. B. 1989. Fiber bonding ability — A key pulp
HPMD-CT-2000-00043). quality parameter for mechanical pulps to be used in
The authors would like to thank Prof. Angeles printing papers. Pages 49 – 57 in Proc. International Me-
Blanco, Complutense University of Madrid, De- chanical Pulping Conference. Helsinki, Finland.
partment of Chemical Engineering, for her care- PARHAM, R. A., AND R. L. GRAY. 1990. The practical iden-
tification of wood pulp fibers, 2nd ed. Tappi Press, At-
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SKOG, K. E., P. J. INCE, AND R. W. HAYNES. 1998. Wood
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