Aabstract
Plant fibers are mainly composed of cellulose, lignin and hemicelluloses. Fiber swelling ability (water
retention value) of unbleached wheat straw pulp and crystal structure of cellulose were studied for different drying temperature and duration. A low-temperature nitrogen adsorption method was employed
to analyze the change of pore structure of the wheat straw fiber after drying. A transmission electron
microscope (TEM) was used to characterize the change in the ultrastructure of fiber cell walls during
drying. An increase of either variable (drying temperature or drying time) is harmful to the quality of the
fiber, leads to a decrease in the swelling property of the pulps, the increases of crystallinity of cellulose
and the lactones content, and to deformation and collapse of the fiber cell wall