PAPER making! g! FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF PAPER TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL ® Volume 12, Number 1, 2026
COATING “Fabrication of eco-friendly hydrophobic cellulose paper via paper dip-coating in beeswax for improved barrier characteristics”, Moghadase Akbari, Elyas Afra, Seyed Majid Zabihzadeh & Mohammadreza Dehghani Firouzabadi, Journal of Polymer Research , Vol.32, article number 403, (2025). This investigation aims to devise a streamlined method for crafting environmentally sustainable, biodegradable, and hydrophobic paper employing bio-based polymers. Initially, bleached softwood Kraft pulp (BSKP) underwent refining to achieve a Canadian Standard Freeness (CSF) within the 300– 350mL range. Fibers treated with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) in conjunction with electrolytes to increase strength. A fixed proportion of these treated fibers (30% of the dry weight of the suspension) was integrated into the hand sheet suspension to create hand sheets with a grammage of 60GSM. Subsequently, beeswax (BW) emulsions in varying concentrations (1%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) were prepared in water, and hand sheets were subjected to dip-coating in these emulsions for 2 min. Following this, the treated hand sheets underwent air drying at room temperature and subsequent annealing at diverse temperatures (25, 60, 70, 80, 90°C) for 12h. Outcomes demonstrated that beeswax concentration and annealing temperature notably influenced the hydrophobicity process. Optimal hydrophobicity, as indicated by the highest water contact angle (WCA) of 132.89°, was achieved with hand sheets treated with 15% beeswax and annealed at 70°C. Furthermore, beeswax treatment substantially augmented paper thickness, grammage, and apparent density. Notably, the water absorption rate decreased to 67.99% for hand sheets treated with 15% beeswax. However, the incremental incorporation of beeswax content reduced tensile strength values compared to untreated hand sheets. The findings of this study present promising avenues for utilizing such papers in packaging applications, particularly in moisture-resistant packaging contexts. “Fabrication of multifunctional lignin-based composite coatings for enhanced strength, barrier properties and UV protection of cellulosic paper”, Kaifan Xie, Tong Luo, Lexiang Wang, Junming Wang, Wei Liu, Yanjun Tang, Progress in Organic Coatings , Vol.207, Oct. 2025, 109429. The ultraviolet (UV) shielding properties of food packaging materials have garnered significant attention for mitigating issues such as off- flavors, discoloration, and nutrient degradation. However, achieving effective UV protection while maintaining sustainability and performance in packaging materials remains a challenge. Herein, a novel multifunctional composite coating with UV-shielding properties was prepared using cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and sodium lignosulfonate (SL) as functional components and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a cross-linking agent. Notably, the SL-4/C/P coated paper prepared using the coating with an SL/CNCs mass ratio of 4:1, exhibited excellent UV-shielding efficiencies (98% shielding in the UVA region and almost completely block the whole UVB region), enhanced mechanical properties (126% increase in tensile index and 308% improvement in folding endurance), lower Cobb 30 value (decreased from 66g/m 2 to 56g/m 2 ), and reduced air permeability (decreased from 124mm/s to 52mm/s) compared to uncoated paper. This work offers a sustainable and promising strategy for balancing UV-shielding performance with the functional properties of food packaging paper, opening new avenues for the high-value application of CNCs and SL in the papermaking industry. “Stabilized, highly light-blocking microcomposite coating based on size-controlled polystyrene microspheres for paper surface engineering”, Hao Jiang, Bin Wang, Hongxia Ma, Jinpeng Li, Daxian Cao, Jun Xu, Jinsong Zeng, Wenhua Gao, Kefu Chen, Sustainable Materials and Technologies , Vol.45, October 2025, e01547. Environmentally friendly waterborne coatings have attracted significant interest in the paper
Technical Abstracts
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