Adsorption of water‐soluble, nonionic polymers onto cellulosic fibers

Abstract

AbstractThe adsorption of 12 different nonionic water‐soluble polymers, methylcellulose (MC), hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC), polygalactomannan (PGM), polyglycidol (PGD), polyacrylamide (PAAm), methylolated polyacrylamide (MPAAm), polymethacrylamide (PMAAm), three differently hydrolyzed poly(vinyl acetate)s (PVAs), poly(vinyl) methyl ether (PVME), and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) onto bleached kraft pulp (BK), unbleached kraft pulp (UK), and a groundwood pulp (MP) has been investigated under aqueous conditions with attention to the functional groups in the polymers and the chemical character of the pulps. It was found that the adsorption was often selective toward one of the pulps. In order to gain some additional information on these interactions, some adsorption experiments were also performed on acetylated pulps. Some polymers (PGD, PAAm, MPAAm, and PVA 124) having both proton donating and accepting capability were not adsorbed onto any of the pulps. This was attributed to intramolecular hydrogen bonding in these polymers. Some polymers (PVA 224, PVME, and PVP) were strongly adsorbed onto UK but not at all onto BK. It was suggested that in these cases the adsorptive interaction was between phenolic and/or catecholic groups in the lignin on the UK and proton accepting sites on the polymers. However, for three polymers (MC, PGM, and PMAAm), a more general type of hydrogen bonding interaction was considered. For some polymers (HPC, PMAAm, and PVA 420) having hydrophobic groups, it was suggested that hydrophobic interactions were important for the adsorption.