Reduction of fiber knots of cellulose crosslinked fibers by using plasma pre-treated pulpsheets
View Patent ↗The process of making crosslinked cellulose pulp fiber comprising plasma treating a sheet of cellulose pulp fiber before the sheet is impregnated with a crosslinking formulation which comprises a crosslinking agent and a catalyst, then defiberizing the treated cellulose pulp sheet to form treated defiberized cellulose pulp, then heating and curing the treated defiberized cellulose pulp to form intrafiber crosslinked cellulose pulp fibers.
1. A process of making crosslinked cellulose pulp fiber, comprising
plasma treating at least one side of a sheet of cellulose pulp fiber, to provide a plasma treated sheet;
wherein the plasma treatment is corona discharge (CD) and wherein the corona discharge (CD) treatment is at least 54 Watts/m 2 /min;
treating the plasma treated sheet with a crosslinking agent, to provide a crosslinking agent treated sheet;
defiberizing the crosslinking agent treated sheet to form treated defiberized cellulose pulp; and
heating and curing the treated defiberized cellulose pulp to form individual intrafiber crosslinked cellulose pulp fibers, wherein the individual intrafiber crosslinked cellulose pulp fibers have a knot content that is less than individual intrafiber crosslinked cellulose pulp fibers formed with the crosslinking agent but without plasma treatment.
2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the corona treatment is in the range of 54 to 162 Watts/m 2 /min.
3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the defiberization is hammermilling the crosslinking agent treated sheet.
4. The process of claim 2 , wherein the defiberization is hammermilling the crosslinking agent treated sheet.
5. The process of claim 1 , where the plasma is generated using a gas selected from argon, helium, hydrogen, nitrogen, or oxygen.
6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the individual intrafiber crosslinked cellulose pulp fibers have a knot content of less than 20% based on the sonic fractionation test.
7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the individual intrafiber crosslinked cellulose pulp fibers have a knot content of less than 15% based on the sonic fractionation test.
8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the crosslinking agent comprises polyacrylic acid.
9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the sheet of cellulose pulp fiber is produced by a chemical process.
10. The process of claim 9 , wherein the chemical process is selected from the group consisting of a kraft process and a sulfite process.