Drying, water fractions, and water distribution were investigated for pine, birch, and reed pulps and pine-birch, pine-reed, and pine-birch reed pulp mixtures. Gravimetrically determined drying times showed that the dryin-rates of the pulps decreased at two to four inflection points. Characterizations of the dried pulps by differential scanning, calorimetry (DSC) showed a faster removal of free water than freezing and nonfreezing bound waters; all decreased Simultaneously, however. DSC also revealed the critical water contents at which the free water and freezing bound water disappeared. The gravimetrically determined inflection points of the drying curves corresponded with the critical points determined by DSC. NMR line widths and images produced by H-1-NMR imaging revealed the nature and regions of the pulp drying. The constant growth rate of the NMR line widths with decreasing water content appeared to change at two inflection points, which fell approximately in the same water content regions as the inflection points of the drying curves. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.