Bleaching of high consistency lignocellulosic pulp

摘要

The present invention pertains to a method having increased selectivity for bleaching lignocellulosic pulp having a high consistency from a first GE brightness to a second, higher GE brightness which comprises the steps of (a) fluffing the high consistency pulp having the first GE brightness to a specific surface area of at least about 90 m<2>/kg; and (b) contacting the fluffed pulp with a gaseous bleaching agent to form a bleached pulp having the second, higher GE brightness, wherein the pulp fluffing in step (a) and the pulp bleaching in step (b) are carried out substantially simultaneously. The present invention also pertains to a bleached lignocellulosic pulp prepared by the method of the present invention.