Sterling Chemicals

We at Sterling Chemicals hold saving the environment a priority. The formulations team of Sterling Chemicals has therefore come up with a ground-breaking innovation, Retente – 90, which enables better retention of finepulp in papermaking and lesser loss of usable material.

Product: Retente – 90 is an inorganic chemical based compound with an organic flocculating agent.

Function: Retente – 90 acts as a binding agent for cationic starch, leading to greater discharge or water.

Strategies for use: An effective procedure is to add Retente – 90 very late in the approach flow to a paper machine typically just after the pump and before the headbox.
(Note: The pump will shear the big flocs and Retente – 90 will refloc them in smaller flocs for better formation and better retention.)
Best results are achieved when a cationic polymer of sufficiently high mass has been added to flocculate the fibers. The effects are most pronounced when the net amount of cationic additives is enough to render the system at least slightly cationic before the addition of Retente – 90. For this reason, it can be helpful to treat highly anionic furnish with highly cationic material such as polyamine.

Mechanism of Action:
(a) Retente – 90 releases water from the polyelectrolyte bridge causing contraction.
(b) It acts as a link bridge that involves macromolecules adsorbed on different fibers of fine particles. This creates a more streamlined path for the water to flow around the fibers.
Dosage: The dosage depends on the kind of pulp, additives etc.