Alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) sizing - A review

Abstract

Over the years, there have been great efforts to try to develop cellulose reactive sizing agents. The assumption in these developments have been that the covalent linkage allows permanent attachment of hydrophobic groups in a highly oriented state, which makes sizing possible at very low levels of added chemical. The main requirement of the molecule is that it should have a balance between the reactivity towards water, because of the necessity of making stable emulsions or dispersions, and its reactivity towards cellulose. These assumptions are to some extent mutually exclusive and a compromise must be sought. Although, many different types have been tried out over the years the most important sizes used are the Alkyl Ketene Dimers (AKD) and the Alkenyl Succinic Anhydrides (ASA). These sizing agents are at the opposite in terms of stability of hydrolysis and reactivity towards cellulose, where AKDs are the least reactive species and fairly stable towards hydrolysis, whereas ASAs are very reactive towards cellulose, but also sensitive to hydrolysis. The mechanism of action is fairly well known for AKD, but less known for ASA and AKD-sizing can be regarded as a pretty mature field from a scientific point of view. The aim of this contribution is to summarize the fundamental features of AKD-sizing and discuss and highlight the most important aspects for the practical papermaker. Over the years there have been many reviews (e.g. (Dumas 1975; Reynolds 1989; Eklund and Lindström 1991; Hodgson 1994; Roberts 1997; Hubbe 2006)) in the field of AKD-sizing, but there have been extensive recent research activities over the past 10 years and there is a need for a comprehension of these research activities.