Paper industry is a complex and delicate process, in which foam problem has always been one of the key factors affecting paper quality and production efficiency. The production of foam mainly comes from the foaming substances in the pulp, such as filter aids, retention aids, wet strength agents, sizing agents and other chemical aids. These additives are prone to generating bubbles during the beating and white water closed cycle process, which can affect the uniformity and quality of the paper. Therefore, the use of papermaking defoamers has become an effective means to solve this problem.

There are various types of defoamers for papermaking, each with its own characteristics. Common paper defoamers include kerosene, oil esters, fatty alcohols, polyethers, and organosilicon. Among them, fatty alcohol defoamer has become a widely used defoamer in the current paper industry due to its ability to quickly remove the gas in the pulp and eliminate the foam on the water surface, as well as its advantages of small impact on sizing and low cost. Polyether defoamers have the characteristic of good temperature resistance, but are easily affected by temperature. The defoaming and degassing effects vary greatly depending on the temperature of the white water. Although organosilicon defoamer can also eliminate foam on water surface, it has large dosage, poor economy and may cause pollution in some processes.

In the papermaking process, the application of defoamers mainly focuses on key processes such as pulp making, papermaking, and coating. In the pulping process, due to the need to add a variety of chemical additives and chemicals, resulting in a large amount of foam. At this time, the use of acid and alkali resistant, salt resistant and high temperature resistant defoamers, such as silicon containing defoamers or polyether modified silicon defoamers, can effectively eliminate foam and ensure the smooth progress of the pulping process. After introducing acid and alkali resistant defoamer, a paper mill successfully solved the foam problem caused by the acid and alkali adjustment process, and the pulping efficiency was significantly improved. In the paper making process, the existence of foam will seriously affect the uniformity and quality of paper. A paper enterprise used fatty alcohol defoamer in the paper making stage. The defoamer can not only quickly eliminate foam in the pulp, but also effectively inhibit the regeneration of foam, which has significantly improved the uniformity and quality of the paper. In addition, due to the minimal impact of the defoamer on sizing, the sizing effect of the finished paper is also guaranteed.

During the coating process, in order to maintain the aesthetics and quality of the paper, it is necessary to choose efficient coating defoamers. A high-grade paper production enterprise used silicone defoamer in the coating stage. The defoamer not only has the ability to quickly eliminate foam, but also can avoid pinholes, spots and fish eyes. After using this defoamer, the quality of coated paper in the enterprise has been significantly improved, and customer satisfaction has also increased accordingly.

With the increasing awareness of environmental protection and the continuous development of papermaking technology, defoamers for papermaking are also facing new challenges and development opportunities. On the one hand, the research and application of environmentally friendly defoamers will become the mainstream trend in the future paper defoamer market. Traditional kerosene based defoamers will gradually be replaced by environmentally friendly defoamers due to environmental pollution issues. On the other hand, with the continuous innovation and upgrading of papermaking technology, the performance requirements for defoamers will also become increasingly high. In the future, papermaking defoamers will need to have higher temperature resistance, salt resistance, and chemical resistance to meet the needs of different papermaking processes.

At the same time, the research and production of papermaking defoamers also need to focus on cost-effectiveness and sustainable development. Reducing production costs, improving resource utilization, and minimizing environmental pollution while ensuring defoaming effects will be the key to the future development of papermaking defoamers.

As an indispensable and important additive in the paper industry, defoamers play a crucial role in improving paper quality and production efficiency. In the future, with the increasing awareness of environmental protection and the continuous development of papermaking technology, paper defoamers will face more development opportunities and challenges. Through continuous research and innovation, we believe that paper defoamers will play a more important role in the future paper industry and make greater contributions to the sustainable development of the paper industry.