Introduction
All human activities, whether individual, artisanal, or industrial, have a more or less significant impact on global warming, which causes climatic disasters such as floods, droughts, glacier melting, disturbances with impactful consequences on life on the planet.
The Paper Industry
Like all industrial sectors, the paper industry is also required to contribute to reducing environmental impact (a process that has been ongoing for years) by optimizing the use of raw materials, energy, and water, while simultaneously reducing CO2 emissions.
Reducing Water Consumption
In addition to ongoing processes to reduce the weight of packaging and paper in general (reducing the use of raw materials and energy) and making products recyclable and, where required, compostable, attention is increasingly focused on reducing water consumption. A lower water consumption also corresponds to a lower volume of wastewater downstream of the production and purification process, which means less pollution. This leads to an increasingly rigorous recycling of process water, i.e., a trend towards closing the production cycle.
Challenges of Production Cycle Closure
Considering that paper can be produced using cellulose and by recycling wastepaper, which contains inks, mineral fillers, starches, adhesives, antifoaming agents, flocculants, wet-resistant resins, and dyes, we can imagine that closing the production cycles is not a simple task, given the presence of so many dissolved substances.
Choices in Dyes
In the specific case of dyes, it will be important to use those that are more substantive and compatible with the pulp. Specifically, for liquid products, it is advisable for them to be free of stabilizers such as alkanolamines and urea, as these, along with residues of the aforementioned substances, are not substantive for the fibers and tend to remain in the production cycle, increasing COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), foaming, and compromising the possibility of other additives to bond with the fibers. Liquid dyes should, therefore, be reformulated, where possible, without stabilizers. The same concept applies to powdered dyes, which will need to limit the content of reaction salts.
Conclusion
The changing climate conditions place companies in the chemical sector facing new and urgent challenges of product reformulation to make them compatible with contemporary needs. In a proactive effort to operate in an increasingly sustainable sector, Cromatos has completed a program that includes the reformulation of liquid dyes to remove or replace harmful chemicals. For more information, please contact our laboratory directly at technicalservice@cromatos.com or one of our sales consultants at info@cromatos.com.
