China’s 12th Five-Year Paper Chemicals Plan Outlines Five Priorities, from Fiber-Specific Additives to Cleaner Production

China is a standout growth engine in the global paper industry, with total paper and paperboard output and consumption both above the United States and ranking first worldwide. That scale calls for more advanced paper chemicals. Against this backdrop, the 12th Five-Year Development Plan for the Paper Chemicals Industry has defined five key tasks for the sector.

China is a country with strong momentum in papermaking, and its total paper and paperboard production and consumption now exceed those of the United States, putting it first in the world. At the same time, advanced modern large-scale paper machines have entered China and are increasingly moving toward automation, larger formats and higher speeds. This places greater demands on the country's paper chemicals industry. To speed up structural optimization and technological upgrading, the 12th Five-Year Development Plan for the Paper Chemicals Industry has identified five priority tasks.

1. Accelerate development of specialty chemicals and key generic technologies for non-wood fibers and recycled fibers.

China's paper sector faces a severe shortage of fiber resources. Non-wood fibers and waste paper fibers make up about 78% of papermaking fiber raw materials, and recycled fibers alone account for 62%. The industry therefore needs specialty chemicals for non-wood and waste paper fibers, especially network-type dry strength agents for paper. These agents can greatly raise the tensile strength and compressive strength of packaging paper and paperboard made from secondary fibers, and they support paperboard grades with special stiffness and folding endurance requirements. They can also increase the breaking length of thin paper, or, when breaking length is held constant, cut commercial wood pulp use and raise secondary fiber content. In addition, they help reduce web breaks, linting and dusting, improving printability.

Key generic technologies for recycled paper also need attention. Reuse of printed waste paper requires deinking agents and deinking processes. Waste paper often contains adhesives and other impurities; if not handled properly, these can cause cylinder sticking or wire sticking during papermaking and disrupt operations. New interference-resistant dry strength agents, amphoteric cationic acrylic acid–acrylamide water-soluble polymers and other resin deposit control agents are therefore needed.

1. Strengthen research on key specialty chemicals and application technologies for comprehensive papermaking wastewater treatment.

Comprehensive treatment of papermaking wastewater relies on integrated innovation across chemical and biological, organic and inorganic, synthesis and compounding technologies, combining source control with end-of-pipe treatment. For source control, priorities include new retention aids, drainage aids, interlayer reinforcing agents with high fiber bonding strength, surface sizing agents and their application technologies. For end-of-pipe treatment, the focus is on wastewater treatment chemicals, application technologies and equipment, with the goal of bringing water use and discharge per ton of paper down to advanced levels. New defoamers for papermaking are also important, including high-temperature- and strong-alkali-resistant silicone defoamers and non-silicone defoamers for aqueous systems.

1. Step up development of key papermaking chemicals and application technologies dedicated to paper and specialty paper.

Paper and specialty paper, which depend heavily on papermaking chemicals, are tight-supply products in China and represent a high-profit area and a key target for industry transformation and upgrading. As the economy grows and living standards rise, demand for paper and specialty paper keeps increasing. Digital technology is driving demand for digital printing paper; fruit wrapping paper can make fruit more colorful and appealing; safe decoration in modern housing requires flame-retardant decorative paper; and thermal paper, antistatic paper, conductive paper and anti-counterfeiting paper all require various specialty chemicals. Three categories are highlighted as priorities: liquid fluorescent whitening agents and fluorescent whitening agents for high-whiteness paper, new paper surface sizing agents, and new environmentally friendly coating adhesives dedicated to paper.

1. Support the paper industry's product scale, technology upgrading and structural optimization by increasing development of new paper chemical products, technologies and processes, with a focus on large-scale, specialized and serialized development.

China should vigorously develop new paper chemicals with independent intellectual property rights, such as neutral and alkaline internal sizing agents, dedicated surface chemicals, deposit control agents and new retention and drainage aid systems. The emphasis is on large-scale, specialized and serialized production, reaching advanced levels for some important product varieties.

1. Vigorously develop key generic environmental technologies and cleaner production processes for paper chemicals.

In response to the industry's energy-saving, emission-reduction and low-carbon production needs, the 12th Five-Year Plan period calls for strong development of key generic environmental technologies and cleaner production processes for several major chemical categories, including modified starch, polyacrylamide and sizing agents.

The continuous automated cleaner production process for modified starch is achieved mainly through integrated critical equipment for continuous applications, powder fluidization technology, rapid catalytic continuous reaction technology, automated control technology and rapid quality control technology.

Environmentally friendly AKD wax and its continuous production technology will pursue innovation in acid chloride processing, solvent-free production technology and continuous production processes. New reaction equipment and automated production processes can effectively reduce environmental pollution and achieve a continuous automated cleaner production process.

— This article is reposted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn); original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-362123.html