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Alkaline treatment and fractionation of OCC for strength improvement

  • M. Nakib Hossen , M. Mostafizur Rahman , Sharmin Islam and M. Sarwar Jahan EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: May 1, 2024
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Abstract

The main drawback of recycled fibers is the deterioration of fiber bonding dependent papermaking properties (like tensile, tear and burst indexes) due to the hornification effect, as a results of drying during papermaking. In order to improve the papermaking properties through increasing fiber bonding, an alkaline treatment of Old Corrugated Cardboard (OCC) followed by fractionation were carried out in this investigation. Alkaline treatment dissolved 6.6 % organics (carbohydrates and lignin) and fibers became wider as a results of fiber swelling. The alkali treatment decreased fines from 39.9 % to 28.5 %, consequently, decreased drainage resistance from 26 °SR to 21 °SR. The papermaking properties of OCC pulp increased on alkaline treatment. Fiber fractionation of alkaline treated OCC further increased papermaking properties. At 40 °SR value, the tensile index, burst index and tear index of alkaline treated longer fiber fraction was 49 N m/g, 3.2 kPa m2/g, 7.2 mN m2/g, respectively while it was 40.4 N m/g, 2.1 kPa m2/g and 6.1 kPa m2/g, for non-treated longer fiber fraction, respectively.


Corresponding author: M. Sarwar Jahan, Pulp and Paper Research Division, Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Laboratories, Dr. Qudrat-i-Khuda Road, Dhaka 1205, Bangladesh, E-mail:

Funding source: Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

Award Identifier / Grant number: Unassigned

Acknowledgments

Authors wish to thank Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for providing necessary fund to carry out this research. Authors also wish to thank Dr. Mohammad Nashir Uddin, Principal Scientific Officer, BCSIR for carrying out statistical analysis.

  1. Research ethics: Not applicable.

  2. Author contributions: M. Nakib Hossen and Sharmin Islam carried out laboratory work. M. Mostafizur Rahman and M. Sarwar Jahan generated research idea and manage fund.

  3. Competing interests: There are no competing interests in this work.

  4. Research funding: Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

  5. Data availability: Not applicable.

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Received: 2024-02-08
Accepted: 2024-04-23
Published Online: 2024-05-01
Published in Print: 2024-09-25

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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