Composition and method for increasing wet and dry paper strength

A powdered composition for increasing paper strength, said composition comprising:

• A. a GPAM resin that is the reaction product of poly(acrylamide-diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and glyoxal in a 95:5 to 90:10 mole ratio;
• B. a water soluble compound;
• and
• C. water present in an amount of less than 10 wt %,
• wherein said GPAM resin is present in a dry weight ratio to said water soluble compound of 1:3 to 3:1,
• wherein said composition has a shelf-life of at least six months such that wet strength and/or dry strength paper performance after six months is at least 80% of wet strength and/or dry strength paper performance measured within one month of manufacture of said composition, and
• wherein the water soluble compound is selected from the group consisting of:
• (1) maltodextrin,
• (2) an amphoteric polyacrylamide that is the reaction product of acrylamide, acrylic acid, itaconic acid, and dimethylamino-ethylmethacrylate monomers, and
• (3) a cationic polyacrylamide comprising a molar ratio of diallyldimethylammonium chloride to polyacrylamide of from 95:5 to 90:10.