Preparation of zeolite sheets using a papermaking technique - Part I - Dual polymer system for high retention of stock components

Zeolite is generally used in the form of beads or pellets in various industrial fields. These types of use, however, have some serious disadvantages such as a pressure loss in the reaction tower or a powdering of the zeolite through beads rubbing against each other. Therefore, in this study, the zeolite sheets were prepared by using a papermaking technique intending the manufacture of the honeycomb structure which improved these defects to a great extent. Typical composites of sheetmaking stuffs were pulp (9%), zeolite (61.5%), kaolin (18%) and glass fiber (11.5%). When 0.5% polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (cationic retention aid) and 0.5%-1.0% anionic polyacrylamide (anionic retention aid) with high molecular weight (4.0 x 10(6)) on these solids were added, the retention of inorganic compounds was higher than 90%. The drainage time was adequately short. These results suggest that the method can be applied to the industrial production. (C) 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.