Wood quality of Pinus taeda and Pinus sylvestris for kraft pulp production

The objective of this work was to evaluate the technological characteristics of the woods of Pinus taeda and Pinus sylvesttis to Kraft pulp production. Industrial chips of both species were used: Pinus taeda from Brazil and Pinus sylvestris from Finland. On wood technological characteristics analysis, basic density, chemical composition and tracheid's morphology were determined. On pulping, seven levels of active alkali were applied between 14 and 26% (NaOH based), with 90 minutes of heating time and 120 minutes at maximum temperature of 170 degrees C. It was possible to observe that both analyzed woods present similar basic density and lignin portions (0,435 e 0,436 g.cm(-3), 26,71 and 25,61% for P taeda and P sylvestris, respectively), while the wood of P. taeda presents lower extractives portion (2,83%), higher holocellulose content (70,46%) and tracheids with higher length (3,50mm), when compared to P sylvestris wood. On pulping, the wood of P taeda had higher yields, higher delignification level and lower wood specific consumption. From this we conclude that the P taeda wood has better characteristics for pulp and paper production when compared to P sylvestris.