a given mill need not be altered to any great extent as will be discussed below one preferred embodiment of the invention involves a pre treatment process to remove some transition metal ions this comprises an enhanced chelation process preceding the bleaching process itself turning now to the drawing the flow sheet can be divided as between the pre treatment section 10 and the bleach section 12 the process of the present invention is not dependent on the presence of a pre treatment section 10 and can be said to begin at the tank 14 from tank 14 the unbleached pulp slurry is pumped via pump 16 through t mixer 18 to tank 20 the stabilizers and bleach chemicals are added between tanks 14 and 20 it is convenient to add stabilizers via lines 22 and 24 at pump 16 to facilitate mixing at pump 16 alkali can also be added via line 30 at pump 16 or farther downstream via for example line 31 at mixer 18 hydrogen peroxide and water are subsequently added through lines 26 and 28 to t mixer 18 sodium silicate is the preferred stabilizer it may be combined with a small amount of magnesium sulfate or dtpa or edta or their salts the alkali source can be chosen from those used in conventional such processes including soda ash magnesium oxide magnesium hydroxide and naoh it is highly preferable that the inventive process described above be preceded by a pre treatment process as is common in the art for the removal of a significant proportion of the transition metal ions which are present in varying concentrations in the pulp.