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Carboxymethyl cellulose on a fiber substrate: the interactions with cationic polyelectrolytes

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Abstract

High and low molecular weight (Mw) carboxymethyl celluloses (CMC) were adsorbed on a well-characterized fiber substrate (long fibers of a commercial bleached birch kraft pulp with the carboxylic acid groups in Na-form) to increase the charge of the fibers in a controlled fashion. The Mw played a role in the utilization of CMCs as a strength additive in paper sheets nearly doubling the tensile strength with the high Mw CMC. Swelling properties of the CMC treated fibers were measured with water retention value (WRV). The WRV increased more with the high Mw CMC. The swelling was further tuned by two highly cationic polyelectrolytes; high Mw poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) and low Mw polybrene (hexadimethrine bromide, [3,6]-ionene). They were chosen because of their known ability to neutralize the anionic charge either exclusively on the surface or in the whole fiber, respectively. Adsorption of PDADMAC could reduce WRV of the CMC pre-treated fibers to the level of the untreated reference, while polybrene adsorbed pulps with 3–10 times more cationic polyelectrolyte deswelled the fibers only slightly more than the surface neutralized fibers. These results indicated surface conformation differences with low and high Mw CMCs. While the conformation did play a role after physical alteration (drying and rewetting) of the fibers, the paper sheets produced from these fibers showed remarkable differences. In extreme cases, the strength of the paper could be retained after drying (low Mw CMC + PDADMAC) or paper, resistant to disintegration, could be achieved (CMC + polybrene).

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Acknowledgments

Assistance of Anu Anttila with the experimental work is kindly acknowledged. NMR measurements with Jari Koivisto, Dept. of Chemistry, Aalto University, SEC measurements of the cationic polyelectrolytes by Jukka Rautiainen, Kemira Oyj and SEC measurements of the CMCs by Sascha Lebioda and prof. Bodo Saake, Chemical Wood Technology, Department of Wood Science, University of Hamburg, Germany are deeply acknowledged. Financing from ChAD project—Botnia, Kemira, UPM, Andritz and Finnish Centre for Technology and Innovation (TEKES)—is greatly acknowledged.

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  1. Department of Forest Products Technology, School of Chemical Technology, Aalto University, P.O. Box 16300, 00076, Aalto, Finland

    Niko Aarne, Eero Kontturi & Janne Laine

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  1. Niko Aarne
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  2. Eero Kontturi
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  3. Janne Laine
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Correspondence to Eero Kontturi.

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Aarne, N., Kontturi, E. & Laine, J. Carboxymethyl cellulose on a fiber substrate: the interactions with cationic polyelectrolytes. Cellulose 19, 2217–2231 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-012-9793-2

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