World-class Wet Strength Kymene? Wet-strength Resin Innovations
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Kymene™ Wet-strength Resin Innovations With good chemistry great things happen.*

Wet-strength Production Facilities Ashland Facilities Licensees Because of our global reach, we are capable of providing wet-strength resins — efficiently and cost-effectively — to any mill, anywhere in the world. Global Wet-strength Leader Ashland invented the modern era of wet-strength paper manufacturing with the introduction of Kymene™ 557 wet-strength resin, the first polyamido-amineepichlorohydrin (PAE) resin ever brought to the market. The product was an instant commercial success, both for its ability to function in neutral/alkaline papermaking processes and for its novel...

Kymene™ Wet-strength Resin Portfolio Today, PAE resins account for 90 percent of the wet-strength market. Of this market, nearly half bear the Kymene brand name. One reason for the success of the product is a broad range of configurations that enable papermakers to customize their wet-strength programs to satisfy regional demands and regulatory requirements. Ashland has introduced market-leading technologies into each of the widely used industry descriptors of G1, G2, G2.5 and G3 PAE resins, making it possible to address a full range of customer compliance needs while balancing cost-in-use....

A History of Chemical Innovation In the late 1950s, Ashland researchers began a quest to find new wet-strength resins that could demonstrate good performance under neutral pH conditions. Their efforts led to polyamido-amine-epichlorohydrin (PAE) resin. Ashland filed its first patent application for PAE resin technology in 1957, and just two years later, it began to market Kymene™ 557 wet-strength resin effective at pH levels between 5 and 8. But our researchers didn’t just invent the PAE resin: They have continued to refine the chemistry to reduce the by-products of the manufacturing...

Next-generation Resins To help papermakers meet compliance standards and government regulations, Ashland further developed and then incorporated ‘’biodehalogenation’’ into its wet-strength resin manufacturing. This process relies on naturally occurring microorganisms to convert 1,3-DCP and 3-MCPD to glycerol, a simple sugar alcohol that the same microorganisms then use for food. Unlike other physiochemical methods used to reduce and remove epichlorohydrin residuals, biodehalogenation consumes very little energy, requires no additional chemicals and generates no additional waste stream. It...

Wet Strength: Satisfying Consumer Demand Ashland’s ongoing commitment to wet strength reflects an increasing demand among consumers for paper products that remain strong even when wet. Today, any grade of paper that needs to maintain its integrity after becoming wet relies on the application of a wet-strength agent. These grades include tissue (facial, kitchen towel, wipers, napkins and tableware), packaging (liquid packaging, aseptic container, carrier board, and other forms of food packaging), and specialty (tea bag, coffee filter, labels, currency, laminating grades, etc.). Ashland’s PAE...

The Future of Wet Strength As consumer needs and regulatory requirements continue to evolve, wet-strength chemistry must evolve with it, which is why the Kymene story is far from being over. Ashland scientists continue to explore and refine the chemistry we invented at the same time that we research commercially viable alternatives, with the goal of introducing next-generation wet-strength products that: • Increase solids so significantly that paper mills can cut their deliveries by half, thereby significantly improving sustainability. • Improve functionality to significantly increase the...

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