Influence of Cationic Starch and Nano-Wood addition on improving the Old Corrugated Containers (OCC) pulp properties

One of the disadvantages of recycled fibers is the significant loss of mechanical strength of the paper due to the decrease in the bond between the fibers. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of adding paulownia nano-wood on the improvement of pulp from old corrugated containers (OCC). Therefore, in this study, with the aim of preserving the mechanical properties of paper, a nano wood-cationic starch system was used. The pulp was prepared from OCC collected and after refining and obtaining a flow rate of 380 ± 20 ml, different amounts of nano-wood (1, 2, and 3%) and cationic starch (0.5, 1, and 1.5%) was added to it. Finally, standard hand sheet papers were made from these treatments, and their physical and mechanical properties were measured according to the TAPPI standards. The results showed that the density and air permeability increase with the addition of cation-starch nano-wood in the paper. Also, the results showed that there is a significant difference with 95% confidence between different treatments in terms of mechanical strength. The highest values of burst resistance index (2.173 kPa / g), crush resistance in ring mode (177.4 N), and air passage resistance (36.9 s) belonged to S3N 1.5 treatment. It can be concluded that the use of larger amounts of nano-wood with the help of cationic starch as retention aids improves the final paper strengths.