Title
A study of viscose quality by reduction of knots in slurry and alkali cellulose
Authors
SACHIN C. GONDHALEKAR LALASO V. MOHITE PRAVIN J. PAWAR SUVANKAR M. DATTA VISHVAS S. NAIK-NIMBALKAR

Received May 23, 2018
Published Volume 53 Issue 3-4 March-April
Keywords knots, CS2 consumption, viscose, bulk density, hard patches, ripening index

Abstract
In the viscose process, the consumption of carbon disulphide (CS2) during the xanthation stage is largely affected by the presence of knots in the slurry and alkali cellulose. Knots are hard patches of cellulose, present in the pulp or generated during the processing of pulp in the viscose making process. A novel method for qualitative and quantitative detection of knots is described in the present work. Reducing the number of knots in alkali cellulose (alkcell) has resulted in an increase in the ripening index (RI) of the viscose solution from 9.5 to 13.0. It was also noted that the reduction in the number of knots in the slurry and alkcell led to reduced CS2 consumption by 4%. It was further observed that the gamma number of the viscose solution did not change significantly with a lower number of knots and lower CS2 addition, thus a lower consumption of CS2 was sufficient to achieve better penetration in the alkcell.