Influence of washing chemo-thermo-mechanical pulps (CTMP) on the emission of volatile organic acids of medium density fibreboards (MDF) prepared therefrom

Washing of CTMP-pulps ahead of board making decreases the amount of extractable acetate and formate ions from the boards. The decrease in the amount of releasable acetic acid due to washing is enormous, whereas washing seems to have no detectable effect on the releasable amount of formic acid. This is likely due to the fact that formic acid is a much stronger acid than acetic acid.