Solar-Driven Photobleaching of Lignocellulosic Biomass

Lignocellulose material is the main natural resource for the pulp and paper industry, and for its application the material should have a degree of whiteness as high as possible. For this reason, different bleaching treatments were applied during time. In this paper, the photobleaching induced by solar light of a lignocellulosic biomass using NaClO was studied. The colorimetric measurements, UV spectra absorption, and FTIR spectra changes are evaluated and discussed in this paper. The changes of L*a*b parameters can be considered a proof of the reactions generated by hypochlorite radicals during solar light exposure, leading to a biomass whitening.