ABSTRACT Background and Objectives: Repeated drying and re-pulping cycles cause hornification, which reduces fiber swelling, flexibility, and bonding ability. Consequently, papers produced from recycled pulp, may exhibit lower strength properties than papers made from virgin fibers. The use of strength additives is a common approach to compensate for this loss in performance. Although cationic additives generally show good performance because of their favorable adsorption onto the anionic surface of cellulose fibers, anionic additives have a lower tendency to adsorb directly onto the fiber surface when used alone. Therefore, the combined use of cationic and anionic additives may improve the performance of anionic materials. The objective of this study was to investigate and compare the performance of cationic and anionic additives used individually and in combination, and to determine suitable application conditions for improving the strength properties of paper produced from recycled OCC pulp. Materials and Methods: Recycled OCC pulp was used as the raw material. Cationic starch, anionic starch, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and alum were selected as wet-end additives. First, handsheets without additives were prepared as control samples, and their strength properties were determined. The effects of each additive, applied individually at different dosages, on burst strength were then evaluated, and an appropriate dosage was determined based on the results. In the second stage, combined systems consisting of alum and anionic starch, as well as a three-component system containing CMC, alum, and anionic starch, were investigated. For the alum-anionic starch system, the effects of both additive dosage and addition sequence were evaluated. In the final stage, selected conditions for the cationic starch-CMC, alum-anionic starch, and three-component cationic starch-alum-anionic starch systems were compared in terms of burst strength, tensile strength, ring crush test (RCT), corrugated crush test (CCT), and corrugating medium test (CMT). Water absorption was also evaluated using the Cobb60 test. Results: The results showed that cationic starch and CMC, when used individually, were capable of substantially increasing burst strength. For cationic starch, the increase in burst strength was pronounced up to a dosage of approximately 2%, while further increases resulted in a lower rate of improvement. Similarly, CMC produced its greatest improvement at approximately 1%, with additional increases in dosage providing only limited benefits. This behavior indicates diminishing marginal returns and a tendency toward quasi-saturation at higher additive dosages. In contrast, anionic starch and alum, when used individually, produced only limited improvements in burst strength. However, their combined application resulted in a substantial increase in strength. The results also demonstrated that the addition sequence played an important role. Adding alum to the pulp first, followed by anionic starch, produced better performance than adding anionic starch before alum or premixing the two additives prior to their addition to the pulp. In the final comparison, 1% CMC increased burst strength by approximately 48%, whereas 2% cationic starch, the alum–anionic starch system, and the three-component cationic starch–alum–anionic starch system increased burst strength by approximately 54%, 58%, and 77%, respectively. The three-component system also provided the greatest overall improvement in other strength properties, increasing tensile strength by approximately 70%, RCT by 100%, CCT by 71%, and CMT by 139%. None of the additive combinations investigated produced a significant change in the water absorption of the paper. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that the performance of wet-end strength additives in recycled pulp depends not only on their ionic nature and dosage, but also on their application method, combination, and addition sequence. While cationic starch and CMC showed good performance when used individually, the combination of alum and anionic starch largely overcame the limited performance of anionic starch when used alone. The three-component cationic starch–alum–anionic starch system produced the greatest overall improvement in paper strength properties. However, increasing the number of components in a chemical system does not necessarily result in a proportional increase in economic efficiency. The selection of an appropriate system should therefore consider the balance among strength improvement, additive consumption, and process complexity. Overall, the findings demonstrate that targeted management of the type, dosage, and addition sequence of cationic and anionic additives at the wet end can provide an effective strategy for improving the strength performance of papers produced from recycled OCC pulp. |