TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a process and apparatus for recycling waste cellulosic material to produce a bleachable cellulosic fiber pulp. The invention is especially concerned with recycling waste corrugated paperboard.

BACKGROUND ART

Corrugated containers are normally produced with linerboard and a corrugating medium. High yield softwood Kraft is usually the pulp used to produce linerboard, while high yield semi-chem hardwood is the normal pulp for making corrugating medium. The common characteristic of these pulps is their high lignin content. Linerboard pulps contain about 10% lignin, corresponding to a kappa of about 70. Corrugating medium pulps have about 18% lignin, corresponding to about 120 kappa. The lignin content of corrugated containers is therefore of the order of 12-14%, corresponding to about 90 kappa (% lignin = kappa x 0.15).

Old corrugated containers (OCC) have tradi¬ tionally been considered paper waste, which usually ends up in a landfill site. The extent of recycling of OCC for making recycled linerboard and corrugating medium paper products is currently at 40% at most. The strength of old corrugated containers, due to their usage and recycled fiber content, is known to be very low, corresponding to a viscosity of about 28 to 32 by TAPPI T-230 Method. For reference purposes, the TAPPI viscosities of virgin linerboard and corrugating medium pulps are as high as 50 to 60.

In order to increase the percentage of OCC which can be recycled and used in the manufacture of high quality linerboard, a method of delignifying OCC

SUBSTITUTESHEET

with oxygen in the presence of an alkali has been proposed by A. de Ruvo, P.A. Farnstrand and N. Hagen in an article presented at the 1985 TAPPI pulping conference. The proposed oxygen delignification of OCC was said to result in substantial loss of the OCC viscosity. As illustrated in this publication, when the kappa of OCC was reduced from 70 to 28, with oxygen delignification, the viscosity of OCC was as low as 265 by SCAN C15:62 method, which is equivalent to 3.0 by TAPPI T-230 method.

In order to economically bleach high kappa virgin pulp rejects such as knots, shives, chops and partially cooked chips, U.S. Patent 4,435,249 proposes to delignify these pulp rejects with oxygen in the presence of an alkali chemical. The objective was to reduce their kappa from about 90 to about 20 to 30, at which kappa they can be economically bleached, while meeting environmental regulations. The bleaching of these low kappa pulps is designed to substantially remove the residual lignin content and to brighten the pulp, which can then be used to produce wood-free (by which is meant lignin-free) printing and writing paper grades.

Oxygen delignification, when used on unbleached pulps to reduce their lignin fraction, is known to simultaneously degrade the cellulose fraction. This undesirable cellulose degradation is also known to be responsible for the observed loss in the pulp viscosity and has usually dictated how low in kappa the pulp can be delignified while maintaining a minimum viscosity/strength for making papers.

The strength of fully bleached pulps, used on commercial paper machines to produce these fine paper grades has to be very high. For these pulps, a TAPPI viscosity of at least 10 cp is usually the

minimum requirement to operate the paper machine with good efficiency and to produce papers with satisfac¬ tory strength.

The bleaching of softwood Kraft pulps usually commences with unbleached pulps with a kappa of 30 to 35 range. In order to reduce the bleaching cost, U.S. Patent 4,946,556 proposed the use of oxygen delignification to reduce the kappa of unbleached pulps to less than 10. Similarly, to minimize the viscosity loss associated with the delignification, oxygen treatment in multistages, together with countercurrent pulp washing between oxygen stages was proposed as a necessary requirement. More viscosity protection was also found when a chelating agent such as EDTA was added to the countercurrent wash liquid and/or pulps were pretreated with a chelating agent such as DTPA. Interstage pulp washing, as taught in the U.S. patent, has been known to substantially increase the complexity and cost of carrying out the oxygen delignification, for example more than double the capital expenses and operating cost.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is based on the recog¬ nition that loss in strength during the oxygen delignification of high kappa cellulosic waste material is due to two factors, namely the contamina¬ tion of the cellulosic waste material through histori¬ cal handling, and high caustic concentrations of the digesting liquor required to solubilize the substan- tial amount of oxidized lignin present in the waste.

The invention seeks to provide a process for recycling waste cellulosic materials while minimizing the associated viscosity loss. Such waste materials include paperboard, especially corrugated paperboard.

Still further this invention seeks to provide recycled paperboard, especially recycled corrugated paperboard, linerboard, and old corrugated containers . Still further this invention seeks to provide a recycled pulp, and a process for its produc¬ tion, from waste cellulosic paper products and reject pulp, which recycled pulp has a lower kappa number than that of the waste and which can be employed in part or as the sole pulp in paper product manufacture. Still further this invention seeks to provide such a process to produce a recycled pulp of low kappa number and high viscosity suitable for bleaching to produce white paper products. Thus in accordance with one aspect of the invention there is provided a process for recycling waste cellulosic paper product comprising subjecting a waste cellulosic paper product having a first kappa number to a pretreatment with an aqueous acid non- detrimental to cellulose, and subjecting the thus pre- treated waste product to oxygen delignification in the presence of an alkaline material to produce a cellu¬ losic fiber pulp having a viscosity of at least 10 and a second kappa number lower than said first kappa number.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a process for recycling waste cellulosic paper comprising subjecting a waste cellulosic paper product having a first kappa number to oxygen delignification in an aqueous medium in the presence of an alkaline material, and establishing a condition for the delignification in which the waste product is exposed to no more than about 50%, by dry weight, of the alkaline material, based on the weight

of residual lignin in the waste cellulosic product, at any point during the delignification.

In accordance with still another aspect of the invention there is provided a process for pro- ducing a wood-free white paper product comprising (a) ^" bleaching a cellulosic fiber pulp consisting essen¬ tially of recycled fibers of old corrugated containers and having a viscosity of at least 10 and a kappa number of 15 to 35, (b) forming the resulting bleached pulp into a white paper product in a paper making operation, and (c) recovering the formed white paper product.

In a particular embodiment of the invention there is provided a cellulosic fiber pulp having a viscosity of at least 10 cp and a kappa number of 15 cp to 35 cp derived from oxygen delignification of waste cellulosic paper products having a kappa number of at least 70.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention there is provided a bleached cellulosic fiber pulp having a viscosity of at least 10 and con¬ sisting essentially of bleached, recycled fibers of old corrugated containers and having a quality such that the pulp can be employed as the sole pulp in white paper manufacture.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS i) Acid Pretreatment

In one preferred embodiment of the invention waste cellulosic paper product is subjected to a pre- treatment prior to oxygen delignification, with an aqueous mineral acid, and more preferably an acid which is non-detrimental to cellulose.

Suitably the waste cellulosic paper product is washed with the aqueous acid solution which prefer-

ably has a concentration in the solution effective to provide a pH of 2 to 4.

A preferred acid is sulfuric acid in a con¬ centration of 0.5 to 1.5%, by weight, based on the weight of the aqueous sulfuric acid solution.

Other suitable acids include sulphurous acid, hypochlorous acid, hydrochloric acid and nitric acid.

Nitric acid is less preferred because of its corrosive nature. Chlorine based acids are generally less preferred because of the general preference for avoiding or minimizing introduction of chlorine, in any form, into the pulp.

The acid pretreatment is suitably carried out at a temperature of 20 to 60°C, preferably about 50°C, for a time of 20 to 40, preferably about 30 minutes.

Conveniently the waste cellulosic paper product is reslushed with water, and the aqueous acid is added to the reslushed waste paper product, where¬ after an acid removal step is suitably carried out by washing or dewatering or both. Removal of the acid is appropriate to avoid waste of alkaline material in the subsequent oxygen delignification step. ii) Oxygen Delignification

In accordance with the invention the waste cellulosic paper product is subjected to oxygen delignification in the presence of an alkaline material. Preferred alkaline materials include the alkali metal hydroxides, especially sodium hydroxide. The alkaline material serves to dissolve oxidized products of the delignification so that they can be removed from the resulting cellulose fiber pulp which is the desired recycled pulp product.

Suitably the oxygen delignification is carried out on waste cellulosic paper product which has been reslushed in water, and which has preferably been subjected to the above mentioned acid pretreat- ment, followed by an acid removal step such as by washing and/or dewatering.

The oxygen delignification is suitably carried out at a temperature of 80 to 120°C and at an oxygen pressure to maintain the aqueous medium of the reslushed waste product saturated with oxygen. In general an oxygen pressure of 60 to 120, preferably about 100 psig, is appropriate.

The oxygen delignification is typically carried out for a time of 30 to 120 minutes, depending on the temperature. In general a decrease in operat¬ ing temperature of about 10°C will double the delignification time while an increase in operating temperature of about 10°C will halve the required delignification time. The oxygen delignification will typically represent the sole delignification to which the waste cellulosic paper product is subjected, in the recycling process of the invention.

The alkaline oxygen delignification, particularly at the elevated temperatures of the invention is also effective in dissolving and removing stickies, adhesives and hot melt materials which contaminate old corrugated containers, so that a clean pulp is produced. The alkaline material is employed in the oxygen delignification in an amount such that the lignin-containing waste cellulosic paper product is exposed to not more than 50%, by dry weight, of the alkaline material, based on the weight of residual lignin in the waste product. Exposure of the waste

product to higher concentrations of alkaline material results in significant loss of strength in the fiber of the resulting pulp.

In order to produce paper products of satis- factory strength the recycled pulp should have a viscosity of at least 10 cp, as measured by TAPPI T- 230.

In accordance with the invention it is found that loss of viscosity or strength during oxygen delignification is avoided or minimized by controlling the exposure of the waste product to the alkaline material such that the waste product is exposed, at any point of the delignification, to no more than 50%, by dry weight, of the alkaline material, based on the weight of residual lignin in the waste product.

The control of the exposure of the waste product to the alkaline material may be achieved by introducing dosages of the alkaline material sequen¬ tially to the lignin-containing waste product during oxygen delignification, each dosage amounting to not more than about 50%, by dry weight, based on the dry weight of lignin contained in the waste product.

In particular this may be achieved by means of a plurality of separate oxygen reactors, and feeding the lignin-containing product sequentially from a first upstream oxygen reactor to a second oxygen reactor downstream of the first reactor. In this way the lignin-containing product passes sequen¬ tially through the plurality of oxygen reactors, and is exposed in each reactor to oxygen delignification conditions in the presence of a low concentration of the alkaline material.

A separate low dosage or proportion of the alkaline material is introduced into each oxygen reactor, each dosage amounting to not more than 50%

dry weight of alkaline material, based on the weight of the residual lignin in the lignin containing product.

Suitably the flow of lignin-containing product through the reactors is such that the alkaline material in an upstream oxygen reactor has been sub¬ stantially fully consumed before the treated lignin- containing product flows to a downstream reactor for further delignification. Suitably the oxygen and the alkaline material are injected at an inlet to each reactor.

If the alkaline material is not fully con¬ sumed an appropriate lowering of the dosage of alkaline material introduced into the downstream reactor is required so that the lignin-containing product in such downstream reactor is exposed to not more than 50%, by dry weight, of the alkaline material. It will be recognized that this represents a less efficient mode of operation. The oxygen delignification is thus carried out in a plurality of sequentially arranged oxygen reactors without the need for intermediate washing stages, iii) Waste Cellulosic Paper Product The invention is concerned with recycling of waste cellulosic paper products of relatively high lignin content, and in particular with a kappa number of at least 70, and more typically 80 to 180.

In accordance with the invention 'waste cellulosic paper product ¹ contemplates manufactured paper products which have been used by consumers and have thus been subjected to an aging process. These may be termed post-consumer paper products, in that they have been used by the consumer and have either outlived their useful life or have fulfilled the need

for which they were intended. Examples include paper¬ board packaging, which is used to package consumer products and which is usually discarded by the consumer after purchase of the product. At the point in time at which the packaging is discarded it has frequently been subjected to different handling and manipulating operations, as well as aging, all of which contribute to deterioration of the cellulosic fiber content to an extent such that the conventional wisdom is that such discarded product is unsuitable for recycling to produce quality paper products. Conventionally, recycled pulp from such discarded paperboard is employed for low quality, inferior paper products, or as a minor component mixed with virgin pulp to reduce costs of other paper products.

Old corrugated containers (OCC) have particular utility as the waste product in the present invention.

It will be understood that while the invention is particularly concerned with treatment of waste having a kappa of at least 70, it is within the scope of the invention to mix waste having a kappa of at least 70 with waste of lower kappa, so that the average kappa will be less than 70. iv) Post-treatment

The cellulosic pulp or recycled pulp result¬ ing from the oxygen delignification is recovered as a brownstock which is washed to produce the recycled brownstock pulp and a brownstock washing liquor or weak black liquor which contains inorganic chemicals and combustible organic substances formed during the delignification.

A concentrate may be formed of the brown¬ stock liquor. Combustion of the organic component provides heat energy which may be exploited in the

process to provide part of the heat to raise the temperature for the acid pretreatment or oxygen delignification. Sodium carbonate by-product typically forms as a molten mass during the combustion of the concentrate and may be dissolved in water and reacted with quicklime to convert the sodium carbonate to sodium hydroxide with precipitation of calcium carbonate to leave a liquor of sodium hydroxide which can be recycled to the oxygen delignification stage. The recycled pulp may be employed directly as the sole component of a new manufactured paper product or may be admixed with virgin pulp.

The recycled pulp may be subjected to bleaching where white paper products are required. v) Recycled Pulp

The recycled pulp of the invention typically has a kappa number of 15 to 35, more usually 20 to 30, and has a viscosity of at least 10 cp and typically 10 cp to 15 cp. The cellulosic fiber pulp has, in particular, an ISO brightness of at least 30 and produces paper having a fiber strength of at least 11 km.

It is a particular advantage of the inven- tion that superior characteristics of ISO brightness and fiber strength are attained in conjunction with the high viscosity and low kappa.

It was surprising that a recycled pulp of this character could be produced employing oxygen delignification of waste cellulosic paper product such as OCC, since first oxygen delignification is known to seriously reduce viscosity and thus strength of the cellulosic fiber pulp, and second OCC was generally considered unsuitable for producing a quality pulp because of the aging of the paper product which has

been generally recognized as producing deterioration of the fiber content, particularly with respect to strength characteristics.

The high brightness of the pulp, typically at least 30, means that less bleaching agent is required in subsequent operations directed to increas¬ ing the brightness of white paper products produced from the recycled pulp.

The superior physical characteristics of the recycled pulp of the invention are such that the recycled pulp may be employed directly as the sole component of a new manufactured paper product.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a recycling assembly and the process for recycling washed cellu¬ losic paper product in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 2 illustrates a variation of viscosity of the recycled pulp with kappa number for different oxygen delignification processes including processes of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS

With further reference to Fig. 1, a recycling assembly 10 includes a pulper 12, an acidi¬ fication tank 14 and oxygen reactors 16, 18 and 20.

Recycling assembly 10 further includes a screening/cleaning tank 22, a decker 24 and a washer 26. Pulper 12 includes a feed inlet line 28 for waste cellulosic paper products, a water inlet line 30 for makeup water, a recycled water inlet line 32 and a contaminants outlet line 34.

A line 36 communicates pulper 12 with acidi¬ fication tank 14, and an acid inlet line 37 communi¬ cates with acidification tank 14.

A line 38 communicates acidification tank 14 with screening/cleaning tank 22 and a line 40 communi¬ cates screening/cleaning tank 22 with decker 24.

Screening/cleaning tank 22 has a contami¬ nants outlet line 41; and decker 24 has a dilution water line 42 and a sewer line 46. The recycled water line 32 communicates decker 24 with pulper 12 and a branch line 44 communi¬ cates recycled water line 32 with line 38.

Line 48 communicates decker 24 with the up¬ stream oxygen reactor 16; line 50 communicates up- stream oxygen rector 16 with intermediate oxygen reactor 18 and line 52 communicates intermediate oxygen reactor 18 with downstream oxygen reactor 20.

An oxygen line 54 has oxygen branches 56, 58 and 60 communicating with lines 48, 50 and 52, respec- tively.

A line 62 communicates downstream oxygen reactor 20 with washer 26.

Washer 26 includes a shower water line 64, a brownstock wash liquor line 66 and a product line 68. A caustic line 70 has caustic branches 72,

74 and 76 which communicate with lines 48, 50 and 52, respectively.

A particular process of the invention is further described with reference to Fig. 1: Waste cellulosic paper product is fed through feed inlet line 28 to pulper 12. In pulper 12 the waste product is reslushed with water provided through water inlet 30 and recycled water line 32. Contaminants which settle in pulper 12 are removed through contaminants outlet line 34.

The aqueous reslushed pulp is fed through line 36 from pulper 12 to acidification tank 14 in which the pulp is acidified to a pH of about 2 to 4 with sulfuric acid introduced through acid inlet line 37. Suitably the acidification takes place at a temperature of about 50°C for a time of about 30 minutes.

Thus, treated pulp is fed from acidification tank 14 to screening/cleaning tank 22 in which screen- ing and cleaning of the pulp occurs and contaminants are removed through contaminants outlet line 41. The thus screened and cleaned pulp is fed through line 40 to decker 24 where it is washed with water introduced through dilution water line 42. A portion of water in decker 24 with settling contaminants is removed through sewer line 46 and a portion of the dilution water in decker 24 is recycled through recycled water line 32 to pulper 12, and through branch line 44 to line 38. The thus prepared pulp is now ready for oxygen delignification and is fed sequentially through oxygen reactors 16, 18 and 20 employing lines 48, 50 and 52. Oxygen gas is introduced through oxygen line 54 and feeds oxygen branches 56, 58 and 60 which feed lines 48, 50 and 52 upstream of the reactors 16, 18 and 20, respectively. The oxygen is suitably intro¬ duced so that oxygen saturation occurs in the oxygen reactors 16, 18 and 20 and the reactors are suitably maintained at a temperature of 80 to 120°C, with the pulp being maintained in each reactor for a period of 30 to 120 minutes to effect delignification of the waste product.

Caustic, i.e. sodium hydroxide is introduced through line 70 to caustic branches 72, 74 and 76 which communicate with lines 48., 50 and 52, respec-

tively, at a point just upstream of the introduction of oxygen to such lines through lines 56, 58 and 60, respectively.

The introduction of caustic is controlled so that the amount of caustic in each of the oxygen reactors 16, 18 and 20 is not more than 50%, by dry weight, based on the weight of residual lignin in the waste paper product.

Delignified pulp is fed from oxygen reactor 20 to washer 26 where it is washed with water from shower water line 64. The brownstock wash liquor is removed through line 66 and the delignified pulp is removed through product line 68.

The delignified pulp may be employed as is in paper product manufacture or may be first subjected to bleaching in a bleach plant.

The brownstock wash liquor removed through line 66 may be employed to develop heat energy for the recycling assembly 10, by combustion of organic com- bustible components of the liquor, and caustic may be regenerated from such liquor and fed to caustic line 70.

EXAMPLES

The following examples serve to illustrate particular aspects of the invention and improvements over the prior art; in these examples, yields and chemical charges are all expressed in weight %, based on dry weight of pulp.

Example 1 A commercial corrugated paperboard waste was reslushed with water and sulfuric acid was added to a dosage of 1% based on dry waste material. The original waste had a kappa of 82.8 and a TAPPI viscosity of 26.7. The reslushed and acid washed

waste at 5% consistency was maintained at 50°C for 30 minutes, after which it was washed with water and dewatered to about 10% consistency. The thus pretreated waste was digested with 5% caustic (NaOH) and 0.5% magnesium sulphate (MgS04), at 100°C and in the presence of 100 psig oxygen gas for about 25 minutes until the pH of the mixture decreased to about 10.5, indicating that all NaOH was consumed. NaOH was again added at 4% dosage and the oxygen delignifica- tion continued until the additional NaOH was substan¬ tially consumed. NaOH at 3% was again added and the oxygen delignification process step was repeated until the NaOH dosage was consumed. At completion a total of 12% NaOH had been employed. The combined waste treatment process steps produce a pulp product with a yield of 82% on original waste. The recycled pulp product had a kappa of 25.3, a viscosity of 12.2, an ISO brightness of 39.6 and a fiber strength of 12 km.

Example 2 A treatment of commercial waste following the procedure of Example 1 was carried out, but instead of NaOH dosages of 5%, 4% and 3%, five equal NaOH dosages of 2% were used. The recycled pulp product had a kappa of 32.4, a TAPPI viscosity of 14.4, an ISO brightness of 33.9 and a fiber strength of 12 km.

Example 3 Commercial waste as in Example 1 was reslushed with water to a consistency of about 10%. The reslushed waste was digested with 2% NaOH and 0.5% MgS04, at 100°C and in the presence of 100 psig oxygen gas for about 15 minutes, until all NaOH was consumed. NaOH was again added at 2% and the oxygen delignifica¬ tion was again carried out to consume all new NaOH

addition. The 2% NaOH injection and oxygen delignifi¬ cation process steps were repeated until a total of 10% NaOH was consumed. The yield on original waste was 84% and the final recycled pulp product had a kappa of 32.4, a viscosity of 10.6, an ISO brightness of 32.1 and a fiber strength of 11.6 km.

Example 4 Commercial waste was reslushed and acid washed as in Example 1. The waste was digested with 12% NaOH and 0.5% MgS04 for about 120 minutes, at 100°C and in the presence of 100 psig oxygen gas. The waste digestion was carried out until all the NaOH was consumed or pH decreased to about 10.5. The final pulp product had a kappa of 27, a TAPPI viscosity of 10.4, an ISO brightness of 39.7 and a fiber strength of 11.5 km.

Comparison Example 5 Reslushed commercial waste as in Example 2 was digested with 8% NaOH and 0.5% MgS04 and deligni- fied with 100 psig oxygen gas at 100°C, until all NaOH was consumed. The yield on waste was 85% and the pulp product had a kappa of 37.7, a TAPPI viscosity of 8.7, an ISO brightness of 27.8 and a fiber strength of 10.5 km.

Comparison Example 6

Treatment of commercial waste as in Example 4 was carried out with an NaOH dosage of 12% but with¬ out the acid pretreatment. The pulp product had a kappa of 24, a TAPPI viscosity of 5.2, an ISO bright- ness of 35.6 and a fiber strength of 7.5 km.

Comparison Example 7 Reslushed commercial waste as in Example 2 was treated with 0.5% DTPA, as taught in U.S. Patent

4,946,556. The DTPA treated waste was then digested with 12% NaOH and 0.5% MgS04 and delignified with 100 psig oxygen for 120 minutes. The pulp product has a kappa of 23.9, a TAPPI viscosity of 5.9, an ISO brightness of 36.2 and a fiber strength of 7.8 km.

Comparison Example 8

The procedure of Example 7 was followed but employing 0.5% EDTA in place of DTPA. The pulp product had a kappa of 24, a TAPPI viscosity of 5.8 cp, an ISO brightness of 36.4 and a fiber strength of

7.6 km.

Comparison Example 9

The procedure of Example 1 was followed, but immediately after the addition of sulfuric acid, chlorine dioxide in an amount of 1% was added and the resulting mix was maintained at 25°C for 20 minutes.

The dosages of caustic were 6%, 5% and 3%. The pulp product had a kappa of 19.7, a viscosity of 11.8 cp and an ISO brightness of 44.8%. The results for kappa, brightness, viscosity and fiber strength in the above examples were obtained using the following Standard Testing Methods:

Kappa by TAPPI Method T-236 or CPPA Method G18

Brightness by TAPPI Method T-452 or CPPA Method El Viscosity by TAPPI Method T-230 or CPPA Method G24

Fiber strength by Handsheets for Physical Tests (Zero Span Tensile Breaking Length) by TAPPI Method T-205 or CPPA Method C4

With further reference to Fig. 2 there is shown a plot of viscosity of recycled pulp against kappa number for five situations.

The control situation involves the use of caustic in an amount of more than 50%, by dry weight, based on the weight of lignin in the waste paper product, in contact with the waste paper product with

no acid pretreatment, and no step to lower the exposure of the waste product to the sodium hydroxide. It will be seen that all the viscosities are low and all below 10. The DTPA plot employs the same conditions as for the control plot but with the inclusion of the chelating agent DTPA in accordance with U.S. Patent 4,946,556. It can be seen that the viscosities are only marginally better than those for the control plot and are still below 10.

The acid plot employs the acid pretreatment of the present invention with a conventional oxygen delignification and without establishment of the special conditions in accordance with the present invention. It can be seen that under these conditions there is a marked improvement over the control and DTPA plots with the viscosity being 10 or more.

The 5X plot is for a process of the inven¬ tion not employing the acid pretreatment, but employ- ing a scheme of a type illustrated in Fig. 1 but with five separate additions of the caustic so that the exposure of the waste paper product to the caustic is controlled in accordance with the invention. It can be seen that the results are comparat a with the results for the acid pretreatment alone.

The A5X and A3X plots are for preferred processes of the invention employing the acid pre¬ treatment and control of the exposure to caustic in five and three dosages based on the type of scheme illustrated in Fig. 1, and it can be seen that these provide the best results in terms of higher viscosity relative to kappa number.

Fig. 2 demonstrates that the invention provides advantages either by use of the acid pre- treatment or control of exposure to caustic alone, but

provides still better results by employment of both an acid pretreatment and control of exposure to caustic.

In operation the process particularly will require 7 to 14%, by weight, of oxygen, based on the weight of the waste cellulosic paper product. In order to achieve the significant kappa reduction of the invention, the oxygen is introduced in a plurality of stages as described herein, and typically in an amount up to 5%, by weight, in each stage, each stage preferably employing an amount of oxygen to saturate the aqueous mixture under the process conditions.