Vietnam successfully refined high-quality wood pulp.

Vietnamese scientists have successfully refined Vietnamese wood pulp to a quality nearly equivalent to Canadian wood pulp, but at a lower cost, potentially replacing Canadian wood pulp as a raw material for nitrocellulose production.

This is a remarkable result of the research project "Study on the use of Vietnamese wood cellulose to produce nitrocellulose for propellant production as a replacement for imported wood powder" conducted by Dr. Phan Duc Nhan and a young research team from the Department of Propellants and Explosives, Faculty of Weapons, Military Technical Academy.

(Illustrative photo: Thanh Ha/VNA)

According to Dr. Phan Duc Nhan, the research on refining wood cellulose to meet technical requirements for use as a raw material in the preparation of nitrocellulose for propellant production on a laboratory scale has been a focus of the research group since the beginning of 2010.

The research results have confirmed that, using domestic resources, it is entirely possible to refine Vietnamese wood cellulose into a product that meets the technical requirements for wood pulp used in the production of nitrocellulose, replacing imported wood pulp. Based on these results, the team proposed and was assigned the task of carrying out the above project by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

According to Dr. Phan Duc Nhan, NC is produced by nitrating refined cellulose materials (cotton, wood, etc.) and is widely used in both civilian and military applications, such as in the manufacture of propellants, adhesives, and film-forming agents.

Cellulose raw materials used to produce nitrocellulose for propellant production require high quality, such as an α-cellulose content of over 92% for wood pulp and over 96% for cotton, along with other very strict quality indicators.

Currently, to produce nitrocellulose labels, Vietnam has to use refined cellulose raw materials that are all imported, such as wood pulp from Canada and the US, cotton from China, etc.

“After being sent for quality analysis and spectroscopy using standard methods at the Quality Control Laboratory, Z195 Factory and Weapons Engineering Center, Military Technical Academy, refined wood pulp from Vietnam fully met the technical requirements for wood pulp to be used in nitration to produce nitrocellulose. Its quality is equivalent to Canadian wood pulp, but at a lower cost,” Dr. Phan Duc Nhan happily shared.

Mr. Nhan added that the group has now requested permission from relevant authorities at all levels to open a higher-level research project aimed at perfecting the technological processes for refining wood pulp in paper mills, using refined wood pulp to manufacture nitrocellulose propellants, and conducting trial production of propellants on a factory scale. This will allow for the application and transfer of research results into the practical production of nitrocellulose and propellants, gradually moving towards completely replacing imported Canadian wood pulp.

According to (VNA) - VT