Producing method for the artificial peat moss from natural cellulose fiber

1. A method for producing an artificial peat moss from natural cellulose fiber comprising the following steps in successive order:

(a) producing a preliminary quasi-dope of mixed cellulose mucilage by combining a wood pulp with a dissolving solvent and a stabilizer, wherein the dissolving solvent is N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO) and the stabilizer is 1, 3-phenylene-bis 2-oxazoline (BOX);

(b) blending and dissolving the preliminary quasi-dope of mixed cellulose mucilage of step (a) by stirring the preliminary quasi-dope of mixed cellulose mucilage at a temperature of 50° C.-70° C. in a high speed agitator;

(c) producing a homogenized mucilaginous dope by dehydrating the blended and dissolved preliminary quasi-dope of mixed cellulose mucilage of step (b) in a vacuum film evaporator at a temperature of 80° C.-120° C. for 5 minutes;

(d) producing a filament bundle of cellulose by feeding the homogenized mucilaginous dope of step (c) into a spinning machine via a metering pump, then spinning the homogenized mucilaginous dope and using a dry-jet wet spinning method to extrude the homogenized mucilaginous dope from the spinneret;

(e) producing a plurality of spinning tows each comprising an untwisted bundle of continuous filaments of about 2,500 deniers by coagulating the filament bundle of cellulose of step (d) in a coagulation bath then rinsing the coagulated filament bundle of cellulose with water; and

(f) producing the artificial peat moss by twisting, calendering and cutting the plurality of spinning tows of step (e) using the following sub-steps:

(i) plying the plurality of spinning tows with a cover filament thereby preventing de-twisting of the spinning tows in subsequent sub-steps;

(ii) forming a spun yarn of 25,000-30,000 deniers by laterally feeding the plurality of spinning tows of sub-step (i) into a hollow spindle and twisting the spindle, wherein the hollow spindle is twisted at a speed of 1,800-10,800 rpm thereby regulating the amount of twist to 200-1,200 twists per meter (TPM);

(iii) calendering the spun yarn of substep (ii) by passing the spun yarn through calender rollers; and

(iv) forming the artificial peat moss by cutting the calendered spun yarn of substep (iii) with a cutter.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises an additional step (g) as follows:

(g) drying the artificial peat moss of step (f) by heating the artificial peat moss in a drum dryer at a temperature of 120° C.-15° C. for 30-60 minutes.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of the N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO) in step (a) is 45-75%.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pH of the artificial peat moss is 6.0-7.2.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Electrical Conductivity (EC) value of the artificial peat is lower than the EC value of natural sphagnum moss.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wood pulp comprises pulp cellulose of short staple or long filament with an a-cellulose content of over 65% and a degree of polymerization (DP) of 500-1200.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (c) decreases the water content of the blended and dissolved preliminary quasi-dope of mixed cellulose mucilage of step (b) by 5%-13%.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein in step (f) the feeding frequencies for the calender rollers and the cutter are adjusted so that so the length of the artificial peat moss is 3cm - 30 cm.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hollow spindle of step (f) is driven by a high-speed motor by using a cog belt or toothed belt to couple the hollow spindle to the high-speed motor.