Research Article
SN Applied Sciences (2020) 2:1577 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-03313-w
Fig. 10 A Optical properties, B tear, burst and apparent density of unfilled, filled and modified filler at 15% filler dose based on OD pulp. MPCC represents modified PCC
known that the filler retention depends upon its particle size, shape and chemical nature. Therefore, higher reten- tion achieved with the aggregated PCC particles may be due to the larger floc sizes. Presumably, a slight decrease in surface potential of PCC may allow the chitosan to adsorb on cellulose fibers effectively ensuring higher retention of modified fillers [60]. It is worth noting that the ash level studied under the experimental conditions does not have a significant impact on the optical properties of the paper in case of modified filler as seen in Fig. 10B. However, one can expect that the marginal increase in brightness around 1% at higher ash level is due to higher retention of larger particles of modified PCC [15]. Further, an increase in filler retention as a result of successful surface encapsulation of
PCC with chitosan polymer is evident from Fig. 11 which shows networks of cellulose fibers incorporated with min- eral fillers. Clearly, SEM analysis reveals that modified PCC not only fills the voids but also creates linkages between fibers by adsorbing sufficiently onto them. This signifies the inevitable adhesive nature of chitosan and its promis- ing end-use application in papermaking.
3.1 An outlook for production cost
Approximately, the cost of cellulose pulp (CP) is INR 65/kg (1 USD = INR 75) and PCC is INR 14/kg. Therefore, the esti- mated cost of base/raw materials for manufacturing PCC- filled paper shall be INR 67100/t considering PCC charge
Fig. 11 FE-SEM images of cellulose networks filled with A unmodified fillers, B modified fillers
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