Inter-laboratory comparisons of hexenuronic acid measurements in kraft eucalyptus pulps using a UV-Vis spectroscopic method

An inter-laboratory comparison of a UV-Vis spectroscopic method (TAPPI T 282 om-13 “Hexeneuronic acid content of chemical pulp”) for hexeneuronic acid measurements was conducted using three eucalyptus kraft pulps. The pulp samples were produced in a laboratory at kappa numbers of approximately 14, 20, and 35. The hexeneuronic acid contents of the three pulps were approximately 55–65 μmol/g, or with a variation of approximately 15%. Five laboratories from four different countries participated in this round-robin study as part of the evaluation of the TAPPI provisional method for upgrading to a TAPPI standard method. The comparative study showed that the orders of hexeneuronic acid content from low to high among the three pulp samples produced by four laboratories were in agreement. Replicate measurements were not conducted at the laboratory that produced an inconsistent order of hexeneuronic acid among the three pulp samples compared with the other four laboratories. The differences in hexeneuronic acid contents from different laboratories were systematic and consistent; that is, some laboratories consistently produced high values of hexeneuronic acid for all three samples. The comparative data of three pulp samples concluded that the measurement repeatability (within a laboratory) was less than 3% and reproducibility (among laboratories) was less than 16%. Application: Analytical test laboratories, pulp mills, and research organizations can use the information in this paper for chemical pulp analysis