Optimizing Wet-End Air Management with High-Melting-Point Ziegler Fatty Alcohols, TAPPICon26

In paper manufacturing, entrained air and foam disrupt hydrodynamics, reduce pump performance, and impair fiber suspension, compromising sheet formation and quality. These issues are worsened by closed water loops, higher temperatures, faster machines, advanced pulp formulations, and increased recycled or deinked pulp use. An innovative fatty alcohol-based solution has been developed for efficient high-temperature (60–70 °C) deaeration of white water in the wet-end section of paper machines. Melt blending long-chain fatty alcohols yields a crystalline composition with higher hydroxyl value and melting point, enhancing emulsion stability and deaeration at 30 - 70 °C. Oil-in-water emulsions formulated with the newly developed high - melting-point alcohol, in combination with selected emulsifiers and rheology modifiers, achieved optimal droplet size distribution under controlled shear conditions. The resulting emulsions demonstrated stable viscosity and structural integrity under both standard and accelerated thermal aging conditions. White water systems with varying physical properties were modeled to evaluate deaeration performance. An experimental protocol was established to evaluate aeration and deaeration in white water systems. Pre-aeration was achieved by diffusing air under gentle stirring until dissolved oxygen (DO) neared saturation both at room and elevated temperatures. Deaeration was then conducted via nitrogen purging, vacuum application, thermal treatment, and chemical addition with fatty alcohol emulsions and DO was measured immediately. Deaeration performance was assessed by plotting DO versus temperature and modeling oxygen removal kinetics. In deaerator tests, the Air Content Reduction Index (ACR) demonstrated that fatty alcohol emulsions provided the most effective removal of dissolved air from white water at elevated temperatures. Key performance parameters included alcohol melting point, deaeration kinetics, process temperature, white water composition, emulsion particle size, and deaerator dosage. The study identifies high-melting fatty alcohols as an effective and reliable deaeration agent for pulp and paper applications.

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