INORGANIC FILLING AGENT COMPOSITION OF HIGH RETENTION FOR PAPER INDUSTRY
The invention relates to an inorganic filling agent composition of high retention for paper industry. The composition according to the invention contains 65 to 95 % by weight of an inorganic filling agent for paper industry and 5 to 35 % by weight of an additive comprising an aluminium salt optionally together with sodium aluminate.
The invention aims at providing a composition by which the loss of filling agent can be reduced considerably In the paper industry. The Improvement of the retention of the filling agent and fine fibres involves significant economical advantages.
As filling agents, of the inorganic mineraI substances the following are applied in the paper industry:
- silicates (such as kaolin, talc, etc.),
- sulfates (such as BaSO4, CaSO4, etc.),
- carbonates (such as MgCO3, CaCO3, etc.), - oxides (such as TiO2, ZnO, etc.),
- sulfides (such as ZnS, etc.)
Of the above filling agents kaolin and talc, furthermore, for specific purposes, barium sulfate and titanium dioxide are utilized In the highest amounts In the industrial practice.
When applying these agents in paper industry, first an aqueous suspension is prepared, and this suspension is added to the cellulose fibre suspension. A considerable loss of filling agent occurs during pacer production. The actual loss varies with the type and amount of the filling agent added, and with other technological conditions of paper production.
The considerable losses of filling agent can be attributed primarily to the fact that the
inorganic mineral filling agent produced by conventional techniques and the industrial cellulose fibre types have negative surface charge (zeta potential) in aqueous suspensions. The zeta potentials of cellulose and some typical filling agents are Iisted beIow:
Cellulose fibre - 13 to - 27 mV
Hungarian kaolin (mined at Szeg) - 28 to - 32 mV Austrian kaolin (Aspenger A-2) - 16 to - 20 mV Czechoslovakian kaolin - 15 to - 25 mV
Titanium dioxide - 40 to - 50 mV
Austrian talc - 30 to - 40 rnV
Zeolex 113 (a synthetic silicate-type filling agent produced by Zeofinn Oy, Finnland) - 35 to - 40 mV
Owing to their strong negative surface charges, cellulose fibres an; particles of the filling agent mutually repel one another In aqueous suspensions, whereupon a considerable amount of the filling agent particles is washed away with the process water through the paper-producing sieve together with the short cellulose fibres (broken fibres and fires).
Now it has been found, unexpectedly, that when applying the composition according to the invention, the filling agent adheres to the cellulose fibres, succressing thereby the loss to the minimum.
When suspending the composition according to the invention in water, a suspension containing particles with positive surface chardes (zeta potential) is obtained.
The filling agert comsesition according to the invention is prepared so that one or more air-dry compound(s) releasing aluminium inos,
preferably aluminium sulfate and sodium aiuminate, is (are) added in a pre-determined amount or composition to the filling agent in the last step of the cenventional technology of filling agent production, i.e. when powdering the dried filling agent.
When this air-dry mixture of appropriate composition is suspended under the conditions applied in paper industry, the surfaces of the filling agent particles will bear positive charge (i.e. they have positive zeta potential). Therefore, when added to the cellulose fibre suspension with negative surface charge, the filling agent particles adhere to the surface of the cellulose fibres due to electrostatic attraction, simultaneously increasing the hetero- or homocoagulation of broken and fine fibres. These effects considerably increase the retention of filling agent and fine fibres in the sheet structure.
The zeta potentials of some typical filling agent compositions according to the invention, measured in aqueous suspensions, are listed in Table 1.
A filling agent suspension with positive surface charge can be obtained even when the ratio of the components is not within the optimum interval. The positive surface charge appearing during the preparation of the suspension does not depend on the dilution of the suspension. By varving the ratio of aluminium sulfate and sodium aluminate, a filling agent suspension with positive surface charge can be obtained over a wide pH range (pH 2.0 to 10.0). This always enables one to adjust the pH of the suspension to the desired value, which is favourable with respect to the sizinc of paper.
As known, If one proceeds according to the conventional technology, the adueous suspension of filling agents used in the paper industry contains particles with negative surface charges, which mutually repel one another with the cellulose fibres having negative surface charge as well. Thereby the retention of filling agent and fire fibres is poor. In contrast, when the composition according to the invention is suspenced in water, the filling agent particles have positive surface charges (zeta potential), which results in an optimum retention of the filling agent. The retention achieved according to the invention is far superior to the retention of filling agents and fine fibres achieved so far under conventional conditions. The compositions according to the invention have the further advantage that with their application there is no need for conventional retention aids (these retention aids are expensive, they should be admixed separately, and are less effective than the compositions according to the invention), furthermore, upon adjusting the pH of the filling agent suspension to the appropriate
value, any desired sizing technology can be performed.
The Invention is elucidated In more detal by the aid of the following non-limiting Examples. Filling agent mixtures of the following compositions are prepared:
Example 1 Kaolin 950 kg Crystalline aluminium sulfate 50 kg
total : 1000 kg
Example 2 Kaolin 950 kg
Potassium aluminium sulfate 25 kg Sodium aluminate 25 kg
total : 1000 kg
Example 3
Kaolin 910 kg
1:1 mixture of crystalline aluminium sulfate and potassium aluminium sulfate 70 kg
Sodium aluminate 20 kg
total : 1000 kg
Example 4
Titanium dioxide 835 kg Crystal line aluminium sulfate 535 kg Sodium aluminate 30 kg
total: 1000
Example 5 Talc 650 kg
Potassium aluminium sulfate 175 kg Sodium aluminate 175 kg
total : 1000 kg
Example 6 Titanium dioxide 650 kg 1:1 mixture of crystalline aluminium sulfate and potassium aluminium sulfate 350 kg
total : 1000 kg
Kaolin filling agent, when applied under the conventional conditions of paper industry in the absence of retention aid, has a retention of 50-60 % , depending on the ty p e and amount of kaolin added. On the other hand, the kaolin-containing compositions of high retention according to the invention have a retention of 80-85 % under the same conditions (Examples 1 to 3).
Titanium dioxide filling agent, when applied under the conventional conditions of paper industry in the absence of retention aid, has a retention of 30-40 % depending on the amount of titanium dioxide added. The retention of the titanium dioxide based compositions according to the invention is, however, 50-60 % under the same conditions (Examples 4 and 6), moreover these compositions are much less expensive than the conventional titanium dioxide filling agent (Example 4).
Talc fil ling agent, when applied under the conventional conditions of paper industry in the
absence of retention aid, has a retention of 60-70 % depending on its amount. On the other hand, the retention of the talc-based composition according to the Invention is 80-90 % under the same conditions, moreover the composition is much less expensive than the conventional talc filling agent.