DEHALOGENATION OF POLYAMINE, NEUTRAL CURING WET STRENGTH RESINS

摘要

A process for making polyamine-epihalohydrin resin products having very low levels of epihalohydrin or epihalohydrin hydrolozates is provided. The process includes: a) producing a polyamine-epihalohydrin resin in aqueous solution such that the epihalohydrin used to make the resin is in molar excess relative to the secondary amine functionality in the resin, and terminating the reaction, by cooling and, optionally, adjusting the pH to less than about 8.0; b) adjusting the pH of the polyamine-epihalohydrin solution to a range of from about 7.5 to about 11 and concurrently heating the solution to a range of from about 35 to about 50 DEG C, and maintaining such conditions for about 5 to about 50 minutes; c) contacting the aqueous solution resulting from the pH treatment of step b) with selected microorganisms at a cell concentration of greater than about 5 X 10<7> cells/ml, or an enzyme, at a pH in the range of from about 4 to about 8 and a temperature range of about 25 to about 35 DEG C for a period of time from about 6 to about 50 hours duration; and d) deactivating or removing the enzymes or microbes, cooling to about 20 DEG C and stabilizing the composition by adjusting the pH to a range of about 2.0 to about 5.0 by the addition of acid. Polyamine-epihalohydrin resin products having very low levels of residual epihalohydrin hydrolyzates with very high wet strength effectiveness, useful in papermaking are produced.