Potencial do fungo Phellinus linteus (Berk. e Curt.) para biopolpação: em madeiras de Eucalyptus sp. e Pinus sp

Abstract

Among the organisms that can be used in biotechnological processes, fungi have great potential for application in various industrial processes, including pulp and paper. In view of this, the objective of this study was to analyze the potential of the fungus Phellinus linteus (Berk. and Curt.) in the process of biopulping in wood of Pinus sp and Eucalyptus sp. This study adopted an entirely casualized experimental design, comparing two treatments, control (no attack) and bio-treated by gender (Pinus sp. and Eucalyptus sp.), with variable number of repetitions depending on the variable studied. Physical and chemical properties of wood chips and their behavior in relation to the Kraft pulping process were evaluated, as well as the quality of the cellulose pulp and the paper produced. For the bio-treated materials, the chips of the genera (Pinus sp. and Eucalyptus sp.) received inoculums from the fungus Phellinus linteus (Berk. and Curt.), (18 discs of 5 mm coming from plates grown from the fungus) that remained incubated for 54 days. After this period, the chips went through asepsis to remove the mycelium and dry, to be taken to the physical-chemical analysis processes, Kraft pulping process, production and mechanical tests on the paper. In relation to the results of the basic density of the wood there was a reduction of the same of the control material for the biotreated in both genders (Pinus sp. and Eucalyptus sp.). For the chemical properties there were changes that point to the action of fungus in the woods of the genera studied mainly when talking about the values of total extractives and total lignin content that showed a decrease in the control material for the bio-treated and an increase in the holocellulose content of the control material for the bio-treated. Regarding the Kraft pulping process, 6 exploratory firings were performed, 3 for each genus, aiming to reach specific degrees of delignification represented by the objective Kappa number proposed, which was (17±2) for Eucalyptus sp. and (65±2) for Pinus sp. For both genders, their respective control and bio-treated materials achieved degrees of delignification as proposed, but with different active alkali loads. The bio-treated materials of both genders presented a lower demand of active alkali for cooking with an application of 20.8% of active alkali for bio-treated material of Eucalyptus sp in relation to the 21% of the control, while the bio-treated material of Pinus sp presented 21.1% compared to the 22% of the control, that is, there was a lower consumption of applied reagents, positive result, reaching one of the proposed objectives. There was a significant increase in gross yield values for the genus Eucalyptus sp, from the control material of 48.29% to the bio-treated material of 50.26%, while for Pinus sp there was no statistical difference, with a value of 53.29% for the control and 52.74 % for the bio-treated material, but the treatments maintained values within the expected for genus. In the paper properties, in the case of the Eucalyptus sp bio-treated material, the paper strength results were better compared to the control, whereas for Pinus sp, the control paper properties were better than the bio-treated. The results showed that the fungus Phellinus linteus (Berk. and Curt.), presents potential for the biopulping process, with use in both types of wood, due to its degrading action, positive results were obtained from lower consumption of reagents and benefits in the yield and quality of the paper.