Patent ID: 8580055

Claim:
A method for making a gypsum wallboard, wherein the method comprises: preparing a gypsum slurry; adding a mixture to the gypsum slurry, wherein the mixture comprises: about 10 weight percent to about 80 weight percent water; and a composition comprising (a) about 5 weight percent to about 80 percent by weight of a dispersant selected from the group consisting of lignosulfonic acid, naphthalene sulfonic acid, and combinations and salts thereof, and (b) about 1 weight percent to about 25 percent by weight of a wetting agent and/or a surfactant with an HLB of from about 3 to 16, wherein a ratio of the wetting agent and/or the surfactant to the dispersant in the mixture is about 0.13:1 to about 10:1 wherein a stable suspension of gypsum is facilitated and wherein a weight ratio of a combined weight of the wetting agent and/or the surfactant to a weight of gypsum in the gypsum slurry is about 0.001:100 to about 10.0:100; forming the gypsum slurry into a structure for a gypsum wallboard; and drying the structure to form the gypsum wallboard.