GENERATION OF ENVIRONMENTALLY ENHANCED PRODUCTS - CLEAN TECHNOLOGY FOR PAPER CHEMICALS

The modification of existing chemical manufacturing processes to selec tively remove unwanted chemicals in products, offers a realistic appro ach to novel clean technologies. Adjunct biotechnological processing o ffers a means to achieve the manufacture of new environmentally enhanc ed products (EEPs). This paper describes the development and implement ation of a bioprocess for the manufacture of an enhanced paper chemica l. The process was integrated into existing manufacturing plants invol ved in the production of neutral curing poly(aminoamide) chemicals whi ch are used commercially to impart wet-strength to paper products such as tissues and towels (e.g. Kymene(R) wet-strength resins). A consequ ence of the epichlorohydrin chemistry involved in the polymer's manufa cture, haloalcohols (predominantly, 1,3-dichloropropan-2-ol (DCP) and 1-chloropropanediol (3-CPD)) contaminate the product. The objective wa s to reduce the concentration of the two haloalcohols in Kymene(R)-SLX wet-strength resins (c. 8000 ppm db) without affecting the performanc e of the product. A two-membered bacterial consortium was used in an a erobic stirred tank bioreactor system which was capable of rapidly red ucing the concentrations of DCP and CPD in an aqueous solution of the wet-strength resin to less than 1 ppm and 5 ppm respectively. A 3000 d m(3) bioreactor was integrated into two established manufacturing plan ts, generating a reliable and predictable process to enhance the value of the neutral curing wet-strength chemical.