Title
Chitosan as a paperboard coating additive for use in HVAC (heating ventilation and air conditioning) applications
Authors
JAMES ATKINSON ANDRO MONDALA YURGUEN DOS SANTOS SENGER RAMEA AL-MUBARAK BRIAN YOUNG JAN PEKAROVIC and MARGARET JOYCE

Received March 18, 2016
Published Volume 51 Issue 5-6 May-June
Keywords chitosan, biopolymer, paperboard coating, HVAC, Taber stiffness, wicking

Abstract
In this study, commercial chitosan and fungal chitosan were used to formulate solutions that were then coated onto unbleached Kraft paper, to serve as an alternative to phenolic resin coatings. This type of coated paper is used to manufacture evaporative cooling pads for use in livestock enclosures. The critical-to-quality (CTQ) parameters chosen for comparing the chitosan-based materials with the phenolic resin materials were vertical wicking and wet Taber stiffness. The fungal chitosan coating achieved a wet Taber stiffness of 13.34 milliNewtons (mN), and a vertical wicking height of 0.045 meters (1.771 in), while the commercial chitosan coating achieved a wet Taber stiffness of 14.71 mN and a vertical wicking height of 0.032 meters (1.259 in). Phenolic resin, in contrast to both chitosan coated substrates, achieved a lower wet Taber stiffness of 8.83 mN, and a vertical wicking height of 0.034 meters (1.338 in), which is comparable to the commercial coated chitosan, but is substantially lower than the fungal chitosan-coated paper. The commercial chitosan-coated sheet showed a lower mass gain due to water absorption than phenolic resin coated sheets. This indicates that the water is not absorbed into the base sheet, which could prevent premature failure of the cooling pad media. Chitosan shows comparable CTQ performance compared to the resin-coated sheet. The results indicate the potential of using chitosan as a paper coating for the HVAC industry in evaporative cooling pads.