Preparation of Cationic CMP and Softwood Long Fibers as Strength-Enhancing Additive to CMP Pulp
Compared to chemical pulp, mechanical and chemi-mechanical pulps (CMP) are limited in regards to the manufacturing of high quality paper. Chemical additives are an effective way to enhance the properties of paper; however, the effectiveness depends on the additive type and dosage. The utilization of cationized natural polymers has been shown to offer a promising solution. In this study, softwood long fiber (SLF) and CMP were cationized by 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl-trimethylammonium-chloride (CHPTAC), and the effects of cationization on the properties of CMP pulp were studied. Cationization was characterized by FTIR and the nitrogen content, and its effect on the CMP properties was evaluated through mechanical tests and fines retention. Cationization at low and moderate levels and in higher mixing rates improved the mechanical properties of CMP. Compared to cationized CMP, the addition of cationized SLF (CLF) improved the strength and fines retention properties. The CLF application to CMP at a CHPTAC dosage of 5% increased the tensile, burst, and tear strengths by 66.4%, 100%, and 3.6%, respectively. The cationized SLF increased the fines retention by 12.7%.
Preparation and application of cationized pulp fiber as a papermaking wet-end additive
Cationized pulp fibers (CPF) were prepared by the adsorption of a novel biodegradable cationic ester quaternary ammonium salt (31441) on bleached softwood kraft pulp fibers. The optimized conditions for the CPF preparation were: 4% of 31441 (based on oven-dry pulp), 80°C and 30 min. The CPF was characterized by FT-IR, SEM and XPS. Experimental results showed that the CPF improved the retention of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) filler significantly. With 0.9% CPF (based on oven-dry pulp), the retention of PCC increased from 57.53% to 72.21%. The physical properties of paper were also slightly improved. The tensile strength and burst strength of the paper with CPF were higher than those with CPAM. CPF addition had no effect on the stock drainage.
Improved Skin Penetration Using In Situ Nanoparticulate Diclofenac Diethylamine in Hydrogel Systems: In Vitro and In Vivo Studies
Delivering diclofenac diethylamine transdermally by means of a hydrogel is an approach to reduce or avoid systemic toxicity of the drug while providing local action for a prolonged period. In the present investigation, a process was developed to produce nanosize particles (about 10 nm) of diclofenac diethylamine in situ during the development of hydrogel, using simple mixing technique. Hydrogel was developed with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) (5.8% w/w) and carbopol 71G (1.5% w/w). The formulations were evaluated on the basis of field emission scanning electron microscopy, texture analysis, and the assessment of various physiochemical properties. Viscosity (163–165 cps for hydrogel containing microsize drug particles and 171–173 cps for hydrogel containing nanosize drug particles, respectively) and swelling index (varied between 0.62 and 0.68) data favor the hydrogels for satisfactory topical applications. The measured hardness of the different hydrogels was uniform indicating a uniform spreadability. Data of in vitro skin (cadaver) permeation for 10 h showed that the enhancement ratios of the flux of the formulation containing nanosize drug (without the permeation enhancer) were 9.72 and 1.30 compared to the formulation containing microsized drug and the marketed formulations, respectively. In vivo plasma level of the drug increased predominantly for the hydrogel containing nanosize drug-clusters. The study depicts a simple technique for preparing hydrogel containing nanosize diclofenac diethylamine particles in situ, which can be commercially viable. The study also shows the advantage of the experimental transdermal hydrogel with nanosize drug particles over the hydrogel with microsize drug particles.