Processes for making absorbent towel paper and soft sanitary tissue paper webs are provided. The processes provide the steps of: (a) providing a papermaking furnish, (b) forming a wet fibrous web having a differential density from the paper making furnish; and, (c) drying the differential density wet fibrous web to not more than about 10% by weight moisture. Step a) provides: i) from about 20.1% to about 99.9% by weight of a softwood pulp fiber mixture; and, ii) from greater than 0% to about 79.9% by weight of a hardwood pulp fiber mixture. Step i) provides u) from about 20.0% to about 99.8% by weight of softwood pulp fiber; and, v) from about 0.05% to about 5.0% by weight of strengthening additive. Step ii) provides w) from about 0.05% to about 79.4% by weight of hardwood pulp fibers; and, x) from about 0.05% to about 20.0% by weight of cellulose nano-filaments.

Various embodiments of the present invention relate to surface enhanced pulp fibers, various products incorporating surface enhanced pulp fibers, and methods and systems for producing surface enhanced pulp fibers. Various embodiments of surface enhanced pulp fibers have significantly increased surface areas compared to conventional refined fibers while advantageously minimizing reductions in length following refinement. The surface enhanced pulp fibers can be incorporated into a number of products that might benefit from such properties including, for example, paper products, paperboard products, fiber cement boards, fiber reinforced plastics, fluff pulps, hydrogels, cellulose acetate products, and carboxymethyl cellulose products. In some embodiments, a plurality of surface enhanced pulp fibers have a length weighted average fiber length of at least about 0.3 millimeters and an average hydrodynamic specific surface area of at least about 10 square meters per gram, wherein the number of surface enhanced pulp fibers is at least 12,000 fibers/milligram on an oven-dry basis.

Various embodiments of the present invention relate to surface enhanced pulp fibers, various products incorporating surface enhanced pulp fibers, and methods and systems for producing surface enhanced pulp fibers. Various embodiments of surface enhanced pulp fibers have significantly increased surface areas compared to conventional refined fibers while advantageously minimizing reductions in length following refinement. The surface enhanced pulp fibers can be incorporated into a number of products that might benefit from such properties including, for example, paper products, paperboard products, fiber cement boards, fiber reinforced plastics, fluff pulps, hydrogels, cellulose acetate products, and carboxymethyl cellulose products. In some embodiments, a plurality of surface enhanced pulp fibers have a length weighted average fiber length of at least about 0.3 millimeters and an average hydrodynamic specific surface area of at least about 10 square meters per gram, wherein the number of surface enhanced pulp fibers is at least 12,000 fibers/milligram on an oven-dry basis.

A method of making a fabric-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet. The method includes compactively dewatering a papermaking furnish to form a web having a consistency of about 30 percent to about 60 percent, creping the web under pressure in a creping nip between a transfer surface and a structuring fabric, the structuring fabric including knuckles formed on warp yarns of the structuring fabric, with the knuckles having a length in the machine direction (MD) of the absorbent sheet and a width in the cross machine direction (CD) of the absorbent sheet, wherein a planar volumetric density index of the structuring fabric multiplied by a ratio of the length of the knuckles to the width of the knuckles is at least about 43, and drying the web to form the absorbent cellulosic sheet.

A method of making a fabric-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet. The method includes compactively dewatering a papermaking furnish to form a web having a consistency of about 30 percent to about 60 percent, creping the web under pressure in a creping nip between a transfer surface and a structuring fabric, the structuring fabric including knuckles formed on warp yarns of the structuring fabric, with the knuckles having a length in the machine direction (MD) of the absorbent sheet and a width in the cross machine direction (CD) of the absorbent sheet, wherein a planar volumetric density index of the structuring fabric multiplied by a ratio of the length of the knuckles to the width of the knuckles is at least about 43, and drying the web to form the absorbent cellulosic sheet.

A method of making a fabric-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet. The method includes compactively dewatering a papermaking furnish to form a web having a consistency of about thirty percent to about sixty percent, creping the web under pressure in a creping nip between a transfer surface and a structuring fabric, and drying the web to form the absorbent cellulosic sheet. The absorbent sheet has SAT capacities of at least about 9.5 g/g and at least about 500 g/m.sup.2. A creping ratio is defined by the speed of the transfer surface relative to the speed of the structuring fabric, and the creping ratio is less than about 25%.

A method of making a fabric-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet. The method includes compactively dewatering a papermaking furnish to form a web having a consistency of about thirty percent to about sixty percent, creping the web under pressure in a creping nip between a transfer surface and a structuring fabric, and drying the web to form the absorbent cellulosic sheet. The absorbent sheet has SAT capacities of at least about 9.5 g/g and at least about 500 g/m.sup.2. A creping ratio is defined by the speed of the transfer surface relative to the speed of the structuring fabric, and the creping ratio is less than about 25%.

Disclosed herewith is a filter paper for manufacturing filters for smoking articles, in particular filter cigarettes, with the following properties the filter paper comprises fibers comprising pulp fibers, at least 80% by weight, preferably at least 90% by weight, particularly preferably at least 95% by weight and highly particularly preferably 100% by weight of the filter paper is formed by long-fiber pulp fibers, of the fibers, a proportion with respect to the number of the fibers of between 2% and 10%, preferably between 3% and 9% and particularly preferably between 4% and 8% has a length of less than 0.2 mm, the air permeability of the filter paper, measured in accordance with ISO 2965:2009, is between 500 cm.Math.min.sup.−1.Math.kPa.sup.−1 and 15000 cm.Math.min.sup.−1.Math.kPa.sup.−1 and preferably between 1000 cm.Math.min.sup.−1.Math.kPa.sup.−1 and 9000 cm.Math.min.sup.−1.Math.kPa.sup.−1, the number-averaged length of the fibers in the filter paper is greater than 1 mm and less than 5 mm, preferably greater than 2 mm and less than 4 mm, and the number-averaged width of the fibers in the filter paper is between 10 μm and 50 μm, preferably between 20 μm and 40 μm, and particularly preferably between 25 μm and 35 μm.

Disclosed herewith is a filter paper for manufacturing filters for smoking articles, in particular filter cigarettes, with the following properties the filter paper comprises fibers comprising pulp fibers, at least 80% by weight, preferably at least 90% by weight, particularly preferably at least 95% by weight and highly particularly preferably 100% by weight of the filter paper is formed by long-fiber pulp fibers, of the fibers, a proportion with respect to the number of the fibers of between 2% and 10%, preferably between 3% and 9% and particularly preferably between 4% and 8% has a length of less than 0.2 mm, the air permeability of the filter paper, measured in accordance with ISO 2965:2009, is between 500 cm.Math.min.sup.−1.Math.kPa.sup.−1 and 15000 cm.Math.min.sup.−1.Math.kPa.sup.−1 and preferably between 1000 cm.Math.min.sup.−1.Math.kPa.sup.−1 and 9000 cm.Math.min.sup.−1.Math.kPa.sup.−1, the number-averaged length of the fibers in the filter paper is greater than 1 mm and less than 5 mm, preferably greater than 2 mm and less than 4 mm, and the number-averaged width of the fibers in the filter paper is between 10 μm and 50 μm, preferably between 20 μm and 40 μm, and particularly preferably between 25 μm and 35 μm.

The present invention aims to provide techniques for preparing complexes of a hydrotalcite and a fiber. The complexes of a hydrotalcite and a fiber can be synthesized efficiently by synthesizing the hydrotalcite in an aqueous system in the presence of the fiber.