Press Releases

2014

April 7, 2014

Kurita Broadens its Lineup of Process Treatment Chemicals for Paper and Pulp to Step Up Business Expansion
Releasing the new KURITA PL-140 Series antifoaming agent for kraft pulp washing process and other new products

Kurita Water Industries Ltd. (Head Office: Nakano-ku, Tokyo; President: Toshiyuki Nakai) is pleased to announce the release of the KURITA PL-140 Series antifoaming agent for the kraft pulp (*1) washing process as well as other new products to broaden its lineup of process treatment chemicals for pulp manufacturing in a bid to further help solve problems faced by customers in the paper making and pulp industry.

At the moment, pulp manufacturers are shifting their raw materials from natural wood to planted wood, such as eucalyptus and acacia. While helping conserving the global environment through the protection of forestry resources and prevention of global warming, this move gives rise to new problems in the pulp manufacturing process. Kurita has been working to develop products that help resolve the technical issues resulting from the use of planted wood.
The new KURITA PL-140 Series antifoaming agent for pulp washing is one of these products. More specifically, during the pulp manufacturing process, the resin content that is decomposed and extracted from woodchips turns into foam that is problematic to the production machinery and the final products. Especially in the process of removing foreign particles from pulp and of washing pulp, foaming is likely to occur and result in poor dewatering results in the washing machine. Therefore, foaming has a significant deteriorating impact on the quality and productivity of pulp products.
Given that planted wood has higher resin content, its intermediary products are more likely to foam than those derived from natural wood. The new KURITA PL-140 Series is a silicone-based antifoaming agent for use with planted wood that has shown excellent results in immediate- and long-lasting effects under high temperature and high alkaline conditions. The product series suppresses silicone content agglutinates and its intrusion or adhesion to pulp products. It thus prevents not only the adverse impacts on pulp products but also the crawling in the printing or coating process and the flaking and swelling in the lamination processing. The result is the improved quality of the final paper and paperboard products.
Regarding process treatment chemicals for the washing process of planted wood, Kurita now offers another product series, designed to reduce pitch (*2) in pulp and consequently enhance product quality. Other new products include a water filtration enhancer for the pulp sheet manufacturing process and fungicides for pulp sheet products.

By broadening its product lineup, Kurita is providing comprehensive solutions in answer to customers’ needs for higher productivity and quality enhancement while minimizing environmental impact. With these new products, Kurita will step up its business operations in Japan and overseas for the papermaking and pulp industry.

  • *1Kraft pulp: A method of manufacturing pulp by cutting wood into woodchips and treating them chemically or thermally, or the pulp manufactured in this method.
  • *2Pitch: Aggregate of the resin content, stains and foreign particles contained in the raw materials of pulp

<Kurita’s Product Lineup for Pulp manufacturing>

Category Product Name Effect
Antifoaming agent for the washing process * KURITA PL-140 Series Prevents deterioration of productivity due to foaming in the washing process and pulp quality impairment caused by the silicone content of chemicals.
Resin-pitch-reducing agent for the washing process KURITA PQ-5000 Series Reduces pitch (stains and foreign particles) generated in the pulp washing process and enhances product quality.
Anti-scaling agent KURITA PD Series Prevents a decline in washing effect and production volume and deterioration in operation following adhesion of calcium-derived scales onto production equipment.
Water-reducing agent for calcium carbonate KURITA PR-200B Series Removes moisture from lime mud in the causticization process effectively and cuts heavy oil consumption in the subsequent drying and firing processes.
Precipitation agent for green liquor and white liquor KURITA PC Series Improves precipitation properties of suspended solids contained in green and white liquors and increases alkali recovery efficiency.
Precipitation enhancing agent for green liquor KURITA PH-6000 Series Facilitates precipitation of hardly precipitating suspended solids in green liquor.
Agent for enhancing water filtration properties of pulp sheets * KURITA PF-160K Series Improves dewatering performance in the pulp sheet manufacturing machine to improve productivity.
Fungicide for pulp sheets * KURITA PS Series Inhibits mold growth in pulp sheets to maintain and stabilize their quality.

* Newly developed product