Effect of Dissolved and Colloidal Contaminants of Newsprint Machine White Water on Water Surface Tension and Paper Physical Properties

Contaminants such as fatty acids, triglycerides, resin acids and foam collected from a high yield sulfite weak liquor storage tank lowered the water surface tension and reduced inter-fibre bonding but also tended to benefit sheet opacity. Some common wet end additives such as defoamers and dispersants gave similar results. Lignosulfonate and naphthalene sulfonate showed little if any negative effect on both surface tension and sheet strength properties. Among the natural wood extractives. fatty acids were identified to be most detrimental followed by triglycerides and then resin acids. In order to alleviate the detrimental impact of these contaminants, membrane separation, air floatation and ozone treatment were carried out on paper machine white water samples. The effect of these treatments on removal of fatty and resin acids was quantified by a GC-Mass analysis. Reverse osmosis with a 1000 molecular weight cut off membrane failed to totally reject fatty and resin acids, but markedly reduced losses of sheet properties due to contaminants. Ozone treatment resulted in a significant increase of the surface tension and air floatation was considered to be a practical and useful method for removing fatty and resin acids from the machine white water.