Changes in physicomechanical properties and structures of jute fibers after tetraacetylethylenediamine activated hydrogen peroxide treatment

Tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED) activated hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was tentatively used in the bleaching of scoured jute fibers, and the effects of this method on the physicomechanical properties, main chemical compositions, and structures during bleaching were evaluated and compared with conventional H2O2 bleaching. By comparing with H2O2 bleached jute fibers, the TAED-activated H2O2 bleached jute fibers were found to have a better storage stability of whiteness and yellowness, higher breaking tenacity, lower fineness value and breaking extension. The differences in morphological structure and thermogravimetric analysis showed that the TAED-activated H2O2 bleaching system had a stronger ability for the removal of noncellulosic materials than conventional H2O2 bleaching system. The changes in main chemical compositions and Fourier transform infrared spectra further indicated that the removal ability of TAED-activated bleaching for lignin was obviously stronger than that of conventional bleaching, but it had a similar removal ability for hemicellulose. Furthermore, when the whiteness and yellowness values were similar, the amount of H2O2, bleaching temperature, and time of TAED-activated H2O2 bleaching were obviously less than those of H2O2 bleaching.