*2.5. Characterization of the Morphological, Drainability and Chemical Properties*

The morphological properties of pulp fibers and formulations were evaluated automatically by an image analysis using a fiber analyzer, the MorFi equipment (TECHPAP, Grenoble, France).

In order to characterize the surfaces of the different formulations, the obtained tissue structures were coated with gold using a Sputter Quorum Q 15 OR ES (Laughton, East Sussex, UK) to be analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) using a Hitachi S-2700 model (Tokyo, Japan) with an accelerating voltage of 20 kV at different magnifications. ImageJ, an image analysis software, was also used to characterize the pore properties of the samples. The SEM images were processed and analyzed using a methodology with defined criteria for the stabilization of the average of the measured values [31].

The chemical functional groups were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) at a wavelength of 600–4000 cm−<sup>1</sup> with a resolution of 4 cm−<sup>1</sup> .

The drainability of pulp suspensions and formulations was evaluated by the ◦SR method (ISO 5267/1). Triplicate assays were performed for both methods.
