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Use fiber modification enzymes as part of tissue absorbency improvement efforts
Pulp is the most expensive component of a tissue sheet and can account for as much as 70% of the total cost of the base sheet. Because of this, tissue makers would like to make their products with the least amount of pulp possible. One of the limiting factors to how low a tissue maker can drive basis weight is the required strength of the product. The product must be able to convert efficiently, dispense effectively and perform to customer expectations in its use.
In order to increase the strength of the sheet without having to increase basis weight, tissue makers have long since borrowed strength-generating approaches from the flat sheet industry. The most ubiquitous of these is the refining process. Refining is the mechanical abrasion of fiber in between two rotating steel plates. Unfortunately for the tissue maker, the refining of the fiber also results in significant fiber cutting and flattening at higher refining intensities. These fines, upon formation of the sheet, fill the small voids within the sheet structure. The flattening of the fibers also makes them more conformable, which results in tighter packing of the fiber matrix within the base sheet structure and further densifies the sheet.
Tissue makers often use Maximyze® fiber modification enzyme technology to reduce refining such that they can get the tensile development they need without the negative impact on absorbency.
