Effect of Fixing Agent Dosage on the Mechanism of Colloidal Substances Retention onto Pulp

Three polyamine fixing agents with increasing molecular weights (m.w.), PA-Lw, PA-Mw, and PA-Hw, were used to treat a deinked pulp at three different levels of chemical dosage. The objective was to elucidate whether the retention mechanism of colloidal substances (CS) onto fibers by a fixing agent is different when the dosage is different. The results show that, for the polyamine with the lowest molecular weight (PA-Lw), it performed in the colloidal fixation mode over a wide range of dosage, but re-dispersion of CS took place in the pulp when its dosage was increased to a level high enough but still beneath the charge reversal point. For the polyamine with the highest m.w. (PA-Hw), CS re-dispersion was not observed over the whole dosage range, but a small part of the colloidal agglomeration coexisted with colloidal fixation even when the dosage was very low. For the polyamine with the middle m.w. (PA-Mw), both CS re-dispersion and colloidal agglomeration were observed. This study showed that if one wants to determine the dosage of a fixing agent during CS control better, both CS removal ratio and CS agglomeration behavior should be considered.