Kraft lignin as wet-strength and wet-stiffness additives for molded pulp materials

Eva Pasquier; Jost Ruwoldt

doi:10.1016/j.jobab.2025.05.001

Volume 10 Issue 3

Aug. 2025

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Eva Pasquier, Jost Ruwoldt. Kraft lignin as wet-strength and wet-stiffness additives for molded pulp materials[J]. Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2025, 10(3): 325-335. doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.05.001

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Eva Pasquier, Jost Ruwoldt. Kraft lignin as wet-strength and wet-stiffness additives for molded pulp materials[J]. Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2025, 10(3): 325-335. doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.05.001

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Kraft lignin as wet-strength and wet-stiffness additives for molded pulp materials

doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.05.001

Eva Pasquier,
Jost Ruwoldt^{1
,
,}

RISE PFI AS, Høgskoleringen 6B, Trondheim 7491, Norway

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail address: jost.ruwoldt@rise-pfi.no (J. Ruwoldt)
Received Date: 2025-02-04
Accepted Date: 2025-04-25
Rev Recd Date: 2025-04-07
Publish Date: 2025-08-01

Abstract

Abstract

Derived from renewable resources, cellulose based materials are gaining new importance due to their recyclability and biodegradability. Still, one fundamental challenge is their high sensitivity to water. The addition of wet strength agents (WSA) is hence necessary to maintain strength and integrity in humid or wet conditions. In this article, technical lignin was used as WSA in bleached kraft pulp, which was thermopressed to materials with the potential to replace plastics. Cationic starch or a cationic flocculant (PCB 20) was used as a retention aid during the filtration process. The effect of moisture during thermopressing and lignin particle size were also studied. The results showed that elevated moisture during pressing had the biggest impact both on dry and wet strength. Wet strength (tensile test), up to 9 MPa, and wet strength retention, up to 12 %, were obtained when moisture was present during pressing. However, the type of flocculant and the size of the lignin particles also had a limited effect on the strength. Wet strength improvement was most probably due to the plasticization of lignin at high temperatures, which was further aided by water. The cellulose-lignin network was strengthened by the melting of lignin, consolidating the network after cooling. The wet stiffness of the cellulose substrates was also increased from 200 to 938 MPa in the presence of lignin, while the elongation was maintained and no embrittlement was observed. The results in this article might hence pave the way for new developments in molded pulp and cellulose based plastics replacement.
- Lignin,
- Molded pulp,
- Wet strength agent,
- Lignin nanoparticles,
- Paper sizing,
- Added-lignin thermoformed pulps

Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Eva Pasquier: Methodology, Visualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Jost Ruwoldt: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Resources, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.
Supplementary materials
Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.jobab.2025.05.001.
Peer review under the responsibility of Editorial Office of Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts.

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