Showing papers in "Appita Journal in 2017"

Effect of blending banana stem and hardwood pulps on sizing, ash retention, physical strength and optical properties of paper.

Abstract: This paper describes the effect of blending bleached banana stem (BS) pulp with hardwood (HW) pulp on the sizing carried out using alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) along with ground calcium carbonate (GCC) as the filler, and on physical strength and optical properties of paper. Blending of BS pulp with hardwood pulp significantly improved physical strength properties like tear, burst and tensile indices by 57.4, 88.3 and 44.4%, respectively. For the blended pulps, cationic charge demand increased whereas the freeness, drainage and zeta potential decreased with increasing proportions of BS pulp. The Cobb60 value increased and the contact angle value reduced with the increasing BS pulp content. Ash content and first pass ash retention (FPAR) increased by blending BS pulp with HW pulp. BS pulp qualities could be utilized for developing paper grades requiring high tear strength and high air resistance. The optical properties were reduced marginally with increasing proportion of BS pulp due to its low initial brightness and whiteness compared to HW pulp.

The potential of bagasse soda pulp as a strength enhancer for old corrugated pulp.

Abstract: Blending unbleached bagasse soda pulp with old corrugated container (OCC) pulp to reinforce the strength properties of the OCC is investigated. Firstly, bagasse pulp was collected from a local paper mill and the refining behaviour and strength development of this bagasse pulp was evaluated. The results demonstrated that application of up to 200 kW/h specific refining energy (SEL 0.5 J/m), improved the strength properties. This indicated that mild refining is helpful in strength development of this pulp and the open structure of bagasse fibres do not impose severe problems if low specific edge load is used. Bagasse pulps refined to different degrees were selected for blending with unrefined OCC pulp. The ratios of bagasse refined pulp was varied up to 20% of the fibre furnish. The results revealed that higher dosages of the bagasse refined pulp improved all properties of the OCC pulp except tear index. It is generally accepted that OCC pulp has lost bonding potential between the fibres and adding refined bagasse pulp improves the inter-fibre bonding between the OCC fibres.