to 20 kg ton in a preferred embodiment of the invention the conditions in the final chlorine dioxide stage are a temperature of 70 u00b0 c a consistency of 10 and a chlorine dioxide charge of between 1 and 2 kg ton based on oven dry lignocellulosic material in this specification a ph in a neutral region is understood to be one close to or at neutral ph more especially 4 5 to 7 and preferably 5 to 6 in order to disclose more clearly the nature of the present invention the following examples illustrate the invention a hardwood kraft pulp oxygen delignified and partially bleached in a mill with a d 0 eop sequence was thoroughly washed in the laboratory and bleached with a final chlorine dioxide stage d 0 represents a chlorine dioxide delignification stage while eop represents an alkaline extraction stage fortified with oxygen and peroxide the kappa number of the d 0 eop pulp was 2 0 the final chlorine dioxide bleaching stage d was carried out by placing the pulp in a vessel and mixing appropriately heated water into the pulp and adjusting the ph to a predetermined value using sodium hydroxide naoh or carbon dioxide if required followed immediately by a rapid addition of chlorine dioxide solution the charge of chlorine dioxide added to the pulp slurry was set at 1 70 kg per ton of oven dry pulp the.