PAPER making! g! FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF PAPER TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL ® Volume 9, Number 3 2023
Engineering the paper production by combined fiber fractionation and reinforcement with microfibrillated cellulose, Reanna Seifert, Samira Gharehkhani, Daniela Vargas Figueroa, Jordan Mercuur & James Olson, Cellulose , Vol. 30, 3201 – 3217 (2023). Extending the use of mechanical pulp into non-traditional paper markets that requires moving towards producing high-bulk, porous paper grades with sufficient strength has gained intensive interest. This paper explores the potential of incorporating fiber fractionation with microfibril production to create high-bulk, porous, and strong enough material appropriate for a wide range of non-traditional mechanical pulp applications. Two different pressure-screen fractionation trials were conducted to fractionate a primary pulp into a long and coarse fiber stream (reject) and a fine and short fiber stream (accept). High-bulk, low-tensile sheets were obtained using the long and coarse reject fibers. The accept fibers were low-consistency refined at high specific energy to produce a microfibrilated cellulose (MFC) material and used to strengthen the high-bulk reject pulp sheets. The results illuminated that incorporating highly refined accept fibers having MFC- mimetic network into the paper structure could be a promising route to engineer the paper properties and extend the property range in comparison to low consistency refined whole pulp. Different series of handsheets were made and systematically studied by means of fiber length, fine percentage, bulk, tensile index, tensile energy absorption, tear and burst indices, and freeness. Moreover, SEM micrographs were used to interpret the variations of paper properties. We believe that our results shed light on future mechanical pulp materials suitable for packaging and absorbency grades of paper that are high-bulk with sufficient strength for the specific application. PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY Enhancement of barrier properties regarding contaminants from recycled paperboard by coating packaging materials with starch and sodium alginate blends, Valentin Zharkevich, Natallia Melekhavets, Tatsiana Savitskaya & Dzmitry Hrynshpan, Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy , Vol. 32, 101001 (May 2023). Novel composite packaging materials based on “ clever paper ” (CP) (a mixture of polyethylene with calcium carbonate in a mass ratio of 1:1) with a coating layer of biodegradable polymers – corn starch (St) and sodium alginate (Alg) with and without activated carbon – were tested to determine their barrier properties against several substances (undecane, heptadecane, dodecane, triethylcitrate, dipropylphthalate, 4-methylbenzophenone, cholestane) that simulate the migratable contaminants from recycled paperboard. Industrial samples of synthetic films (LDPE, BOPP, BOPET, EVA, PLA, PVA), as well as films based on starch/alginate (St/Alg) blends (St/Alg 90/10 and St/Alg 50/50) have been tested as well. Good barrier properties against the penetration of mineral oils (less than 5% undecane has permeated after 10 days at 40 °C) were demonstrated by the film based on St/Alg 90/10. The coating of CP by a layer consisting of St/Alg 90/10 and activated carbon (AC) yielded the composite material CP/St/Alg 90/10/AC with very low permeability (close to aluminum foil). To further showcase the effectiveness of starch/alginate coatings against penetration of contaminants, additional tests were performed with purchased recycled paper coated by films based on St/Alg 70/30. PAPERMAKING Innovations in papermaking using enzymatic intervention: an ecofriendly approach, Aiman Tanveer, Supriya Gupta, Shruti Dwivedi, Kanchan Yadav, Sangeeta Yadav & Dinesh Yadav, Cellulose , Vol. 30, 7393 – 7425 (2023). The paper and pulp industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors and has exhibited fast growth in recent years. This is linked to the increased environmental pressure due to the use of virgin fibre from wood as raw material followed by its chemical mediated processing. This prompted the development of
Technical Abstracts
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