What is a papermaking dispersant?
A dispersant is a chemical substance that can disperse chemicals or particles so that they are evenly dispersed in a liquid. In many industrial fields, the use of dispersants is crucial to the stability, quality and efficiency of production pipelines and products.
During the papermaking process, it is often difficult to produce paper with uniform performance and strength that meets the requirements because the paper fibers and fillers in the pulp are hydrophobic and tend to flocculate. Therefore, in the papermaking industry, papermaking dispersants are widely used in pulping and papermaking processes to improve the stability and product quality of pulping and papermaking.
What are the performance effects of using papermaking dispersants?
The use of papermaking dispersants can increase the viscosity of the pulp, which is conducive to the uniform dispersion of fibers and fillers, making the paper uniform, smooth, flexible and without holes, making the papermaking performance stable, and not easy to break and powder during papermaking. At the same time, it can improve the tensile strength and dry and wet strength of paper products and save pulp.
Papermaking dispersants are easily soluble in water and form high-viscosity liquids. At low addition amounts, they can promote good dispersion of papermaking fibers and paper forming effects, improve pulp uniformity and paper softness, and increase paper strength. In papermaking coating applications, papermaking dispersants have high dispersion efficiency, stable coating viscosity, less foam, non-toxicity, and non-corrosiveness. They can increase the solid content of the coating, and have good fluidity and scrub resistance, can maintain the gloss of paper products, and are not easy to mold.Four major characteristics that papermaking dispersants must have
Feature 1: Liquidity.
Papermaking dispersants
Usually appear in the industrial production line in liquid form. This is because liquid dispersants are easier to disperse evenly in the pulping/paper pulp in the liquid state. Since liquid dispersants are easy to disperse, solid particles can be mixed more easily when adding other liquid pulping/paper pulping process chemicals, such as oxidative bleaching agents, photosensitizers, etc., making the process more stable.
Feature 2: Dispersibility. Papermaking dispersants can disperse solid particles so that they are well dispersed in water, making the production process more convenient and reasonable. The dispersibility of dispersants depends on the molecular structure and particle morphology, which is usually related to the surfactant of the dispersant. The surfactant has the difference between hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity. In the papermaking process, the dispersion of particles can accelerate their uniform mixing throughout the pulping/paper pulping production cycle, so the particle size is one of the keys to determine the dispersant.
Feature 3: Adsorption. In the pulping and papermaking process, particles and chemicals are often deposited on the surface of the device. Therefore, the dispersant must have good adsorption to prevent particles and chemicals from remaining on industrial equipment. Some surfactants have strong adsorption, which can effectively reduce the residue caused by adsorption.
Feature 4: Stability. The stability of paper dispersants is extended from uniform dispersion. If the concentration of dispersant formed in water is too high or too low, it may cause the particles to regroup instead of being evenly dispersed throughout the solution. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the dispersant concentration in pulping/paper pulp is always maintained at an appropriate level to ensure the stability of the production cycle and the stability of product quality.
Ending words
Paper dispersants usually have a variety of different performance effects, including waterproofing, anti-elastic stretching and adsorption. Therefore, choosing the right dispersant can be produced and manufactured for different products to meet different needs.