Reduction of dust formation at the tissue paper production

Tissue products has high perception and sensibilty due to hygiene on the consumer side. The dust content of the finished product creates the perception that the consumer does not meet the hygiene conditions, and the presence of the powder in the coil customer adversely affects the efficiency of the converting facility. Although dust generated during production is removed by suction systems in the cleaning paper machine and converting facility, it can be dispersed in production sites due to the effect of friction, creating a health and safety risk for workers as well as reaching the final product. Various studies have been carried out mechanically and chemically on the reduction of dust in the production line and researches are continuing. In this study carried out as TUBITAK 1501 (Project no: 3160107) project with the aim of finding solutions to dusting, which is one of the main problems of the company, reduction of dust formation by refining process and the use of different chemicals has been investigated in detail. The project focused on toilet paper production, which is the most produced in the company and causes customer complaints due to dusting. The toilet paper and production processes produced from blends of bleached kraft pulp and de-inked scrap office paper pulp were selected and the aim was to reduce dusting on the paper surface and media by at least 50%. In the first stage of the study, the effect of the mechanical treatment during the refining process on the dusting of both paper machine and converting plant was investigated. The effects of different refiner blade designs on fine fiber content and dusting were investigated. In the second stage of the study, the effects of the reduced fibers pieces on the production lines by binding to the fibers with chemicals have different content and binding mechanisms continued to be monitored. At the end of the first stage, the avarage reduction rates by the mechanical effect in three different product grade; for amount of fine fibers 36%, 18% for surface dusting, 18% for indoor dusting of the paper machine and 46% for indoor dusting of the converted plant. During of the second stage, since one of the products selected as cellulose has canceled production, the number of products has been reduced to two. At the end of the second stage, it was found that for two production grades, fine fiber ratio decreased 78% on average, 32% on surface dusting, 10% on paper machine indoor dust amount. Also the indoor dusting ratio is increased with embossing effect at the converting facility. When the effect of mechanical and chemical trials at the paper machine on the final product formed at the end of the converting plant is examined, during the embossing process applied to the paper has been found to cause re-dusting. It was concluded that the study of the effects of the converting facility should be continue as the third stage of the study.