Patent ID: 8585865

Claim:
A process for making paper comprising providing an aqueous suspension of cellulosic fibres, synthetic fibres, or combinations thereof and, optionally, fillers, adding to the suspension a dry strength agent, wherein the dry strength agent is a hydrophobic starch that has been modified by etherification, esterification or amidation with a hydrophobic reagent comprising an aliphatic and/or aromatic group having from 7-20 carbon atoms, such that the degree of substitution (DS) of the starch is from 0.0001 to 0.01, wherein, when the hydrophobic starch has been modified by etherification, the hydrophobic reagent comprises a quaternary ammonium group and wherein the hydrophobic starch has an overall charge density between 0 and −0.09 μeq/mg, and forming and dewatering the suspension on a wire to obtain a paper sheet.