Utilization of different tall oils for improving the water resistance of cellulosic fibers

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the effect of the pulping by‐products crude tall oil (CTO), distilled tall oil (DTO), and tall oil fatty acid (TOFA) on dynamic water vapor sorption behavior, interfiber strength, and thermal stability of cellulosic paper‐sheets. The results were compared against those obtained in cellulose papers treated with the conventional petroleum‐derived hydrophobic agent hydrowax and in untreated ones. The tall oil treatments caused strong reduction in equilibrium moisture content of the paper‐sheets during adsorption and desorption runs. The same trend was noticed for the hydrowax‐treated papers, however, it was less pronounced than the CTO‐treated and DTO‐treated samples in the relative humidity range of 75–95%. The sorption hysteresis was considerably decreased after the treatments. The ultimate dry‐tensile strengths of the paper‐sheets were significantly reduced by TOFA and hydrowax treatments, while CTO and DTO showed comparable strength as that of untreated control. The ultimate wet‐strengths of the paper‐sheets were improved after the treatments. The thermal stability of the specimens was improved by the tall oil treatments, and the hydrowax‐treated samples illustrated lower degradation temperature than the untreated control. The results are promising for the use of tall oils as alternative hydrophobic agents of cellulosic fiber‐based products, such as wood panels and paper packaging. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47303.

Characterization of Wood-based Industrial Biorefinery Lignosulfonates and Supercritical Water Hydrolysis Lignin

“…The thermal stability of the lignin samples was analyzed using a NETZSCH STA 409PC instrument (Bayern, Germany), as described previously [40,41]. Around 5 mg of oven-dried sample (24 h at 50 °C) were heated from 30 to 800 °C at a rate of 10 °C/min under a flowing nitrogen atmosphere.…”

“…The water vapor sorption behavior of the lignins was determined using an AVS apparatus (Q5000 SA, TA Instruments) as reported previously [41,42]. Approximately 8 mg of each lignin sample was exposed to relative humidity (RH) increased from 0 to 90% in step sequences of 10% and of 5% from 90 to 95% RH.…”

Hydrophobic Formulations Based on Tall Oil Distillation Products for High-Density Fiberboards

“…The TODP-based formulations were then analyzed with respect to their effect on mechanical and water vapor sorption properties of cellulose paper-sheets, and the results were compared with those obtained with petroleum-based hydrowax, as described previously [ 25 ]. As shown in Table 1 , three TODPs had quite similar solid content while one TODP was applied as received in liquid form.…”

“…The tensile strength of treated and untreated paper-sheets was determined with the tensile testing machine Z3 (Thümler GmbH, Nürnberg, Germany) according to BS ISO1924-3 standards, as described previously [ 25 , 28 ]. The distance between the clamps were 50 mm at an elongation rate of 100 mm·min −1 .…”

“…Application of tall oil fatty acid in manufacturing MDF panels improved their dimensional stability, although thickness swelling values were still inferior when compared to those provided by hydrowax [ 24 ]. Most recently, Hosseinpourpia and co-workers utilized crude tall oil, tall oil fatty acid and distilled tall oil to improve the hydrophobicity of cellulosic fibers [ 25 ]. The authors reported that the equilibrium moisture content of cellulosic fibers was substantially reduced after treatment with these tall oil types.…”