Evaluation of the Disintegration in Water of Tissue Papers Distributed in Korea

Abstract

In this study, water disintegration was evaluated according to ISO 12625-17 for a total of 51 types of tissue products, primarily bathroom tissue distributed in Korea. Moreover, the strength, surface, and softness properties of tissue were measured to investigate the effect of each property on the water disintegration of tissue. As a result of the water disintegration of bathroom tissue distributed in Korea, most products showed 100% disintegration within 30 s, and all of them showed 100% disintegration except for D8 (P600= 94.5%) in the 600 s test. The water disintegration results of facial tissue, paper towel, travel tissue, and hanky tissue were very low. Therefore, it is difficult to determine if the quality of the bathroom tissue is the reason for the clogging issue. As a result of mechanical, surface, and softness, it was found that wet strength, loss of strength, surface roughness and friction, and surface softness affect water disintegration. The results of this study are expected to solve user confusion, to be used as a basis for the management of sewage systems, and to be used as data for the development of tissue products with excellent water disintegration.