Retention Strategies for Alkaline Fine Papermaking with Secondary..., 1991 Papermakers Conference Proceedings

The West Carrollton mill of Appleton Papers Inc. has made continuous improvement in its wet-end chemistry optimization strategy resulting in several quality and cost benefits since converting to alkaline papermaking in late 1986. The mill has successfully improved first pass retention and first pass ash retention on lightweight coated grades containing secondary fiber while concurrently increasing filler loadings and reducing filler particle size. A change to microparticle retention chemistry has permitted these improvements without adversely affecting the sheet formation.

The objective of this paper is to: 1) summarize results of an extensive evaluation of various retention strategies utilizing secondary fiber; 2) discuss the merits of increasing the carbonate filler loading and utilizing smaller particle size filler; and 3) discuss the wet end chemistry monitorization and measurements in terms of comprehensive retention analysis, zeta potential, cationic demand, and cationic titration ratio.