The performance of chitosan with bentonite microparticles as wet-end additive system for paper reinforcement

Mehdi Rahmaninia; Mostafa Rohi; Martin A Hubbe; Seyed Majid Zabihzadeh; Omid Ramezani

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.09.036

The performance of chitosan with bentonite microparticles as wet-end additive system for paper reinforcement

Carbohydr Polym. 2018 Jan 1:179:328-332. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.09.036. Epub 2017 Sep 12.

Authors

Mehdi Rahmaninia¹, Mostafa Rohi², Martin A Hubbe³, Seyed Majid Zabihzadeh⁴, Omid Ramezani²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Wood and Paper Science and Technology, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Iran. Electronic address: rahmaninia@modares.ac.ir.
² Department of Biorefinery, Faculty of New Technologies Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, Zirab Campus, Zirab, Iran.
³ Department of Forest Biomaterials, College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
⁴ Department of Wood and Paper Science and Technology, Faculty of Natural Resources, Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Iran.

PMID: 29111058
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.09.036

Abstract

In this research, the effect of bentonite micro-particles on the performance of chitosan as a new additive system for improving the dry strengths of acidic papermaking was studied. Chitosan, an abundant carbohydrate biopolymer, in 4 dosages (0, 0.75, 1.25 and 2% based on dry weight of pulp) was applied with bentonite in 4 dosages (0, 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9% based on oven-dry weight of pulp). Although the addition of chitosan up to 0.75% (without bentonite) improved tensile index and burst index, but the addition of more chitosan decreased all mechanical properties in comparison with the control sample. The application of bentonite in combination with chitosan had a significant impact on chitosan performance in mechanical properties. The best results were obtained with 0.3% bentonite consumption. Visual formation ranking had a proper correlation with this obtained results. The micro-kjeldahl indirectly confirmed chitosan retention in the treated paper with chitosan/bentonite.

Keywords: Bentonite; Chitosan; Microparticles; Papermaking; Strength; Wet end.