RAC Projects of the Institute

In India, there is a wide variation in raw material furnish ranging from mixed hardwoods, bamboo, agri-residues to imported waste paper of Indian and foreign origin. The proper selection of size chemical and sizing system becomes very difficult for such cases. Most of the mills in India are still following conventional rosin/alum sizing under acidic conditions, only a few have transformed to neutral/alkaline system. Such mills are facing lots of problems; some of these mills have again gone to acidic sizing system after few trials of neutral sizing.

The effect of sizing at different pH level is not well established for indigenous pulps. It is therefore essential to investigate some of the key differences between rosin based sized and ASA emulsion sized paper with regard to strength, aging and printing characteristic for indigenous raw materials like blend of mixed hardwood & bamboo pulp and blend of mixed agricultural residue & jute pulp. These key issues are addressed by the following projects :