Date of Award

12-1996

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Paper Science and Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Ellsworth Shriver

Abstract

The primary object of this thesis project was to repulp post consumer bottle carriers with the addition of chemical reagents and mechanical shear. Recycling bottle carriers is difficult to achieve due to the chemical additives that are added to the pulp. Chemical additives introduced to the virgin pulp are wet strength resins.

Post consumer bottle carriers used in this experiment contained Kymene 557, which is a wet strength product produced by Hercules incorporated and is difficult to repulp due to the cross-linking employed by this chemical additive. This experiment utilized both oxidizing and reducing chemical reagents such as hypochlorite and sodium hydrosulfite. The mechanical shear used for this experiment was from the use of the Waring Blender.

The results of this experiment showed that soaking time and temperature proved to be significant variables in this experiment. Also, the use of chemical reagents increased the easiness of breaking down the pulp. Conclusively, hypochlorite proved to be the most effective reagent in comparison to sodium hydrosulfite for yield percentage, tensile strength, and cost.

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