NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The current situation in international forest product market is highly competitive. This situation demands from USA paper industry new technological development to produce better quality paper with new patented technology which can not be easily reproduced by international competitors. The goal of this project is to implement the industrial use of layer-by-layer polyelectrolyte nanocoated pulp fibers, thereby to bring new technology to paper making. The proposed work is based on our pioneering in the layer-by-layer nanoassembly techniques and on our results on modification of lignocellulose fibers, which made stronger paper and improved paper recycling. Layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly is a nanofabrication technique which has been used to produce multilayered films with nanometer precision through alternate adsorption of oppositely charged components. The main work directions are as follows: 1) Fiber polyelectrolyte nanocoating with control of thickness (in the range 5-50 nm), surface roughness, and surface charge (negative and positive). 2) Development of new paper making processes based on the mixture of LbL-nanocoated positive and negative fibers: Modifying recycled fibers for electrostatic bonding. Drastic increase the percentage of LbL treated recycled fibers in paper without loosing paper strength. 3) Scaling up our nanocoating process to tens of kilograms and more. 4) Customizing the technology for patent licensing, working with individual paper mills. OBJECTIVES: Technical objectives are targeted to implement practical use and continued development of the LbL self-assembly of polyelectrolytes onto pulp fibers. The Nano Pulp and Paper Company intends to utilize the Louisiana Tech patented method of pulp fiber nanocoating for improved paper product with better recycling. This will be conducted concurrently with report of intermittent results: a. Study/determine dwell times for various nanocoating thicknesses, and how effective are the various thicknesses on specific paper properties. This is an important segment of the developmental work, since nanocoating requires a thousand times less material compared to micro-emulsion applications of current pulp and paper making additives (nano 10-9 vs. micro 10-6). Therefore the effectiveness of nanocoating has to be substantiated. Optimal number of layers, multilayer composition, temperature and pH and molarity of solvents will be evaluated. b. Study the stability of the nanocoated fibers, with regards to how they perform within current pulp and paper making processes and in market pulp conditions. Pulp storage conditions and machine stock preparation conditions will be simulated. c. Evaluate the recycling potentials of using nanocoatings to increase the amount of broken fibers present in recycled paper up to 50-60 %. Conditioned for dried and never dried fines will be compared. d. Intermediate fiber washing will be eliminated with precise polyelectrolyte concentrations incrementally increasing for every next step of the assembly.Special attention will be given to measure possible coagulation, cross-contamination of complementary electrolytes and with remnants of paper additives from recycled paper. APPROACH: Polyelectrolyte nanocoating of wood fibers by alternate adsorption of polycations and polyanion will enhance their surface charge and make fibers charged positively and negatively. Mixing of oppositely charged lignocellulose fibers increases paper integrity and strength, especially if LbL-nanocoated recycled broken fibers was used. LbL layer stabilities, in storage,and during mixing will be observed microscopy and QCM measurements. Standard Tappi testing methods will be used to evaluate the handsheet properties
