Abstract: We quantitatively evaluated and ranked the papermaking application potential of the chemical components of fiber raw materials of six sympodial bamboo species in Meishan, Sichuan, including Neosinocalamus affinis, Bambusa intermedia, Bambusa pervariabilis, Bambusa chungii, Dendrocalamus hamiltonii and Dendrocalamus farinosus. Chemical components for papermaking raw materials, including moisture content, 1% sodium hydroxide solution, benzene-alcohol extraction, holocellulose, lignin, pentosan and ash content were analyzed. Matlab was used to perform principal component analysis to evaluate the papermaking application potential of the chemical components for  the comprehensive scores  and ranking. Among the principal components of the chemical components as papermaking fiber raw materials of the six species, the variance contribution rates of the first four principal components were 43.7%, 23.8%, 13.8% and 12.0%, respectively. Among them, holocellulose, lignin and 1% sodium hydroxide solution were the main loading contribution factors of the first principal component, while pentosan and moisture content were the critical loading factors of the second principal component. Among the six sympodial bamboo species,B. intermediahad the highest holocellulose content. There was no significant difference in the holocellulose content among N. affinis, D. farinosus and D. hamiltonii, which had lower holocellulose content than B. intermediaand B. chungii. N. affinis had highest lignin content, followed by D. hamiltonii and D. farinosus, and B. chungii the lowest. The application potential of the chemical components of the six main sympodial bamboos was ranked as N. affinis>B. pervariabilis>B. intermedia>B. chungii>D. farinosus>D. hamiltonii.

Key words: sympodial bamboo, pulp, papermaking raw material, chemical component, rank of potential.