Enhanced water absorption of tissue paper by cross-linking cellulose with poly(vinyl alcohol)

Tissue paper was the only paper grade whose consumption increased during 2020 in Europe. In a highly competitive context, this work explores a strategy based on bisacrylamide cross-linkers and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), seeking to enhance the water uptake of pulps for tissue paper and the key proper...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ferreira, A. Cláudia S., Aguado, Roberto J., Bértolo, Raquel, Carta, Ana M.M.S., Murtinho, Dina, Valente, Artur J. M.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10256/21337
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10256/21337
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Paper -- Fabricació
Papermaking
Cel·lulosa
Cellulose
Descripción
Sumario:Tissue paper was the only paper grade whose consumption increased during 2020 in Europe. In a highly competitive context, this work explores a strategy based on bisacrylamide cross-linkers and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), seeking to enhance the water uptake of pulps for tissue paper and the key properties of the resulting tissue sheets: water absorption capacity, capillarity, softness, porosity, and strength. For that, α-cellulose from cotton and a kraft hardwood pulp, in parallel, were reacted with N,N’-methylenebisacrylamide, both in the absence and in the presence of PVA. The water desorption rate of the modified polymers was monitored. Pulp blends were then mixed with a conventional softwood pulp (30%) to prepare laboratory tissue paper sheets (20 g m–2). For cotton cellulose, cross-linking with PVA more than doubled the water uptake, up to 7.3 g/g. A significant enhancement was also obtained in the case of pulps, up to 9.6 g/g, and in the case of paper, to 11.9 g/g. This improvement was consistent with a drastic increase in porosity, and it was not detrimental to paper strength