A new approach to wet end drainage/retention/formation technology and its improvement of paper machine production rates and runnability

The drive to improve sheet quality, increase paper machine productivity, and control rising furnish costs continues to escalate the demands placed on wet end chemistries. Making progress in one area often requires sacrifices in qualify or performance in other important areas. A new approach to wet end drainage/retention/formation technology that offers performance alternatives to this paradigm is presented. This easy-to-use technology is based on the unique combination of two water-soluble products; a cationic, high molecular weight, dispersion or emulsion polymer and a modified lignosulfate. This technology maybe customized in its application to provide drainage, retention and formation benefits of most value to the papermaker. Laboratory and pilot fine paper machine data are presented comparing the performance of this new, patented approach to conventional, single polymer drainage/retention aids and microparticle technology The results from usage of these additives on a cylinder-type, recycled fiber paper machine are also presented. Short and long-term improvements in machine operation are detailed. Long-term use of this new program has led to 6-8% increases in machine speed and 13-25% reductions in operational downtime.