REDUCTION OF STICKY DEPOSITS BY NEUTRAL

DEINKING FROM RECOVERED PAPER

BELKIS SULBARÁN-RANGEL, ALMA ROSA SAUCEDO, VIRGILIO ZÚÑIGA-GRAJEDA*,
HADER ALZATE-GIL, JOSÉ TURRADO-SAUCEDO

In this study, the behaviour of stickies generated in the process of obtaining pulp from a mixture of recovered office paper, newspaper, and
ABSTRACT

magazine paper by neutral deinking was tested. The impact of deinking under neutral conditions and how the addition of surfactants affect-
ed the process were analyzed. Adhesive deposits are contaminants generated in the papermaking process from recovered fibres and are a
result of the adhesives used in the previous steps of papermaking, resins from inks, resins used as adhesives for book and magazine bind-
ings, and resins used to facilitate various paper uses. In this study, the elimination of adhesive deposits using fatty alcohol ethoxylate-type
surfactants and fatty acid ethoxylates using a flotation deinking process under neutral conditions was tested. Results from adhesive deposit
retention tests showed that these deposits decreased as surfactants were applied, obtaining 36% elimination in the best-case scenario.

INTRODUCTION

In recent decades, the use of printing pa- high level of contaminants. The con- to obtain a raw material that is as clean
per has increased due to digital informa- taminants that may be found in recovered as possible [5]. To solve the problems as-
tion being more widely available. This has paper include materials that are taken sociated with using recovered paper as
generated concern for the environment, up by the paper during the manufactur- a raw material in obtaining new paper, a
driving many advances in the paper indus- ing process (starch, wet-strength agents, large number of chemical products have
try, particularly with regard to the paper dry-strength agents, scrap manufacturing been used in the process. These additives
recovery process. Consequently, recovered coating agents, deinking soaps used for also become potential contaminants when
paper has become a significant fibrous raw ink removal from the recovered paper, they are mixed back into the system or in
material for the papermaking industry. formation-enhancing additives, etc.) and reused water [6]. An excess of chemical
This situation has two major advantages: substances that have been included during products, interaction with contaminants
a reduction in the problem of managing a paper use (adhesives from labels, adhesive already in the water, and incompatibility
portion of solid urban waste, and reduced tapes and remnants of bindings, coating between different additives create a po-
consumption of natural resources like agents from coated paper, inks, waxes, tential problem that must be considered
trees, energy, and water [1,2]. etc.) [3,4]. when chemical products are chosen. They
Despite these advantages, manufac- The primary goal of paper manufac- may destabilize dissolved and colloidal
turing paper using recovered fibre poses turing using recovered fibre is to remove materials and build up in deposits known
certain difficulties in processing due to the most of the contaminants from the fibres as adhesive deposits or ‘stickies’ [4,7,8].

VIRGILIO ZÚÑIGA-GRAJEDA BELKIS SULBARÁN-RANGEL ALMA ROSA SAUCEDO JOSÉ TURRADO-SAUCEDO HADER ALZATE GIL
Centro Universitario de Tonalá, Centro Universitario de Tonalá, Centro Universitario Universitario de Ciencias Grupo Pulpa y Papel,
Universidad de Guadalajara Universidad de Guadalajara de Ciencias Exactas e Exactas e Ingenierías, Universidad Pontificia
Mexico Mexico Ingenierías, Universidad de Universidad de Guadalajara, Bolivariana, Medellín,
*Contact: [email protected] Guadalajara, Jalisco, México Jalisco, México Colombia

6 J-FOR Journal of Science & Technology for Forest Products and Processes: VOL.7, NO.6
 TRADITIONAL AREA CONTRIBUTIONS

These problems become worse as the was carried out using standardized TAPPI determined according to the TAPPI T452
water system becomes tighter due to the procedures: moisture content (T412 om- om-02 [18] standard and the dirt particle
accumulation of contaminants in process 94) [13], ash determination (T211 om-93) count according to the TAPPI T563 om-
water. Moreover, dissolved and colloidal [14], and fibre classification (T233 cm-06) 03 [19] standard using a Scan Maker i900
materials not only interact with organic [15]. (Microtek International, Inc.) with the
substances, but also with inorganic and Commercially available pure grade Domas 8.2 software to quantify the num-
microbial compounds, forming combined fatty alcohol ethoxylate (FAlE) and fatty ber of particles per m2.
deposits that favour the formation of acid ethoxylate (FAcE) surfactants were
foam and scale and can cause corrosion used. These products were supplied by Determination of adhesive deposits
[1]. the company OXITENO S.A. de CV of The determination of adhesive deposits
In recent years, stickies deposits have Guadalajara, Mexico. The FAlE surface was made according to the methodology
become a major problem in the paper re- tension agents consisted of lauryl alcohol proposed by Turrado et al. (1999) [20] for
covery industry because by nature they ethoxylate, and the FAcE surface tension the three deinking conditions (control,
tend to be difficult to remove, causing agents consisted of oleic acid ethoxylate. neutral, and alkaline). This procedure
operating problems for the paper machine consisted of measuring the deposition of
and decreased quality in the final prod- Flotation Deinking adhesive deposits in a 4 cm2 low-density
uct, thus generating significant economic Deinking was carried out in a flotation polyethylene (LDPE) film. The condi-
losses [3,4,9]. Solid contaminants of rela- cell according to the Papier Technische tions for this procedure were: temperature
tively large size can be removed after dis- Stiftung [16] 1987 procedure, Method 50ºC, 1% consistency, and rotation speed
integrating the raw materials by mechani- 010/87. The conditions were: 10-minute 2340 rpm. The contact time between the
cal treatment of the pulp, or else they can flotation time, 0.8% consistency, tempera- LDPE films and the fibrous suspension
be transformed into smaller particles so ture 40°C, 180 ppm water hardness, and was 20 min. After this time, the LDPE
that they do not interfere with mechanical, surface tension agent dosage 0.5% on the films were removed from the suspension
thermal, and/or chemical dispersion sys- basis of dry fibre weight. The study was and rinsed with cold water (25°C). They
tems [3]. Colloidal-size contaminants need conducted under three conditions: were then allowed to dry at room temper-
special treatment. For this reason, the aim ature for 24 h and placed on glass slides
of this study was to evaluate the behav- 1. Control: Performed as the standard for examination under an optical micro-
iour of adhesive deposits after applying a treatment; no chemical reagent was ap- scope equipped with a LEICA QWIN
neutral pH flotation deinking process that plied, and pH was neutral at 7. 550 camera. Images from three areas on
uses fatty alcohol ethoxylate surfactants 2. Neutral pH deinking: Carried out at both sides of the LDPE films were cap-
and fatty-acid ethoxylates. Deinking un- pH 7.0. Fatty alcohol ethoxylates (N- tured and quantified. Measurements were
der neutral conditions has been improved FAlE) and fatty acid ethoxylates (N- taken of the characteristics of the adhe-
by new formulations of surface tension FAcE) were used as chemical reagents sive deposits, such as size, shape, and area
agents. Deinking under neutral pH con- at a concentration of 0.5% on the ba- totally or partially occupied; this was pos-
ditions brings benefits such as improved sis of dry fibre weight. sible using image analysis software. All the
brightness of the obtained fibre, cost re- 3. Alkaline: This alkaline process was experiments were carried out in triplicate,
duction in chemical products (sodium at pH 11, based on previous studies and the data shown are averages, with their
hydroxide, sodium silicate, hydrogen per- [11]. The reagents and doses applied standard deviations calculated using the
oxide, and polymers), and reduction of are stated in Table 1. Statistics and Machine Learning Toolbox
chemical oxygen demand (COD), among of MATLAB, 2015 version.
others [10–12]. Deinking efficiency was tested under
each of the given conditions (control, neu- Calculation of the average area of
MATERIALS AND METHODS tral, and alkaline) using a standard labora- adhesive deposits per Kg of fibre
tory handsheet according to the TAPPI The area of the adhesive deposits was es-
The waste paper used in this study was a T205 sp-02 [17] standard, for which the timated using Eq. (1) [20], where the av-
mixture of three types of secondary fi- optical properties, such as brightness, were erage area of the deposits obtained from
bre to simulate what the paper industry the analysis of each LDPE film image
TABLE 1 Reagents used in alkaline deinking.
uses. Magazine paper (40%), office paper was taken into account. The measurement
Reagent Dose, %
(40%), and newspaper (20%) were used, Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) 1 frame (M) depended on the lens chosen
as reported in previous work [11]. The Sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) 0.5 and the magnification of the digital cam-
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) 1
waste papers were manually sorted to re- era connected to the microscope; for this
Diethylenetriaminepentaacetic 0.3
move non-paper objects and were shred- acid (DTPA) study, a 10× magnification and a 2/3 mag-
ded into small pieces, and characterization Commercial surfactant DI-685 0.5 nification lens was used. Therefore, M =

J-FOR Journal of Science & Technology for Forest Products and Processes: VOL.7, NO.6 7
343205.8 µm²:
(1)

where:
- Adhesive deposits: Area of adhesive de-
posits per kilogram (cm2/Kg)
- Y: Average area of deposits obtained
from the image analyzer (µm²)
- A (LDPE): Area of the LDPE film (64
cm²)
- M: 343205.8 µm².
- P: Sample weight based on dry fibre (12
g).
Fig. 1 - Fibre classification (Bauer-McNett) for each type of paper used in the deinking process.
RESULTS
previously reported for recovered fibres control treatment (i.e., without deinking)
The three types of paper (40% magazine, from office paper, newspaper, and maga- is shown in Fig. 2. In total, 2295 stickies/
40% office, and 20% newspaper) were zines [8]. The percentage of fine fibres μm2 were obtained, which were classified
mixed and disintegrated. This mixture of is high, with the magazine paper having into different sizes.
papers contained 21% ash, indicating that the highest percentage (over 50%); this is The largest percentage of stick-
the raw material contained a large amount caused by the large amount of fillers and ies were colloidal in size, and their areas
of inorganic substances. Most of this waxes used in the coating and in the adhe- ranged between 15 and 30 μm2, which
comes from newsprint and magazine-type sives joining the magazine sheets, among stands out in Fig. 2. This type of sticky
paper. The office paper contains paper- others. These substances are a main source particle is the most difficult to handle in
making fillers and also coating fillers that of adhesive deposits, together with inks routine cleaning processes. One way to
are used to improve surface properties and and other contaminants [4, 22]. handle these contaminants is to stabilize
thus printing performance. Additional in- them with an additive. The additives used
organic substances are derived from ink Assessment of the amount of were surfactant-type fatty alcohol ethoxyl-
pigments coming from the type of print- stickies deposits ates and fatty acid ethoxylates in neutral-
ing that was used, in this case, flexographic Using the adhesive deposition method medium flotation deinking to stabilize the
for newspaper, toner for office paper, and with a low-density polyethylene film adhesive deposits. Figure 3 shows that the
offset for magazines [21]. and by means of an image analyzer, the amount of stickies decreased as fatty alco-
To understand the behaviour of the amount of sticky deposits was determined hol ethoxylates and fatty acid ethoxylates
paper to be deinked, the pulp from each for each type of deinking carried out in surfactants were applied in neutral deink-
type of paper was analyzed, and the pres- this investigation. Accordingly, the size ing compared to alkaline deinking.
ence of fine fibres and the average fibre distribution of the stickies captured in the Flotation is very efficient in removing
length in corresponding fractions was as-
sessed using a Bauer-McNett fibre clas-
sifier. Determination of fibre length was
performed using the TAPPI T 233 cm-06
[15] standard; this technique consists of
determining the percentage of fibres with-
held by meshes of 30 (0.595 mm open-
ing), 50 (0.297 mm opening), 100 (0.149
mm opening), and 200 (0.074 mm open-
ing) holes per inch. Results for fine fibres
and fibres retained in the sieves are shown
in Fig. 1.
Note that from the fibre sorting re-
sults (Fig. 1), the percentages in the 30-
mesh category are low, indicating a small
amount of long fibres (between 18% and
Fig. 2 - Distribution of the number of stickies per area analyzed.
32%). This is in accordance with results

8 J-FOR Journal of Science & Technology for Forest Products and Processes: VOL.7, NO.6
 TRADITIONAL AREA CONTRIBUTIONS

study using fatty alcohol ethoxylates

(N-FAlE) and fatty acid ethoxylates (N-
FAcE).
Brightness is the optical property
that is mainly used to assess deinking effi-
ciency in industry [25]. In Fig. 4, increased
brightness was observed when using neu-
tral deinking with fatty alcohol ethoxyl-
ates and fatty acid ethoxylates surfactants
by 1% and 3% respectively compared to
alkaline deinking. With deinking, a one-
percent brightness increase is a remark-
able achievement. The brightness values
obtained from neutral deinking are within
the range of those reported by other au-
Fig. 3 - Reduction of stickies for each type of deinking process. thors [11,26].
stickies, especially those of micro size. of stickies when fatty alcohol and fatty As for the dirt particle count in the
The amount of stickies was reduced by acid surfactants are applied in neutral TAPPI sheets prepared with deinked pulp,
19.57% with alkaline deinking; using conditions is evident. more particles were observed in alka-
neutral deinking with the application line deinking than with neutral deinking.
of fatty acid ethoxylates, stickies were Evaluation of the optical properties Figure 5 shows the presence of a greater
reduced by 26.56%, and with fatty alcohol of deinked paper number of particles with sizes between 0
ethoxylates, stickies were decreased by Flotation deinking efficiency was assessed and 100 μm. The large number of par-
36.28%. The explanation for this is that in neutral medium and compared with ticles reflects how poor deinking impacts
surfactants act as stabilizers by the steric alkaline medium. The optical properties sheet brightness; therefore, removing as
repulsion of adhesive deposits, meaning of the sheets that were made with many dirt particles as possible results in
that surfactants form a physical barrier deinked pulps under all conditions were cleaner sheets and should be attempted
by adsorption onto the adhesive deposit analyzed. Better ink removal efficiency with deinking. Considering this, the num-
surface [23]. Surfactants usually have using neutral-medium deinking than with ber of particles from the tests confirms
two action mechanisms related to their alkaline-medium deinking has been proven that better brightness values were ob-
structure. They combine the ability to in other studies [10–12]. This efficiency tained after neutral deinking compared to
be strongly adsorbed onto a surface and was further confirmed as described below alkaline deinking [11].
to enhance the dissolving of structural with optical tests such as brightness and
chains in the vehicle or solvent in favor dirt particle count. Figure 4 shows the
of steric hindrance; this effect stimulates brightness obtained in this neutral deinking
the flocculation of adhesive deposits in
suspension. The flocculated deposits can
then be eliminated more easily by any
cleaning method in the process [7,24]. The
results for the amount of stickies and the
area they occupy in cm2/kg obtained from
each deinking method are shown in Table
2.
If the results from neutral deinking
(N-FAlE and N-FAcE) are compared to
those of the control (i.e., non-deinked
pulp), a decrease in the area and quantity
Area of adhesive deposits in
TABLE 2 cm2/kg for each type of deinking.

Deinking type Stickies/μm2 Area (cm2/kg)

Control 2295 1528.33
Alkaline 1898 1229.22
N-FAlE 1495 973.78
N-FAcE 1665 1122.48 Fig. 4 - Brightness for each type of deinking process.

J-FOR Journal of Science & Technology for Forest Products and Processes: VOL.7, NO.6 9
 1.

2.

3.

4.

Fig. 5 - Number of particles per size interval in μm for each type of deinking. 5.

CONCLUSIONS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The use of recovered fibre for manufac- The authors are grateful for the support medio neutro de papel reciclado apli-
turing paper products such as newspaper, of the “Dr. Karl Augustin Grellman” cando mezclas de enzimas celulasas
printing, cardboard, corrugated contain- Department of Wood Pulp and Paper y α-amilasas”, Eur. Sci. J., 10(12): 1–6
ers, and packaging paper has been on the at the University of Guadalajara and the (2014).
rise. Due to this, the economic and envi- German Academic Exchange Service 6. Ashrafi, O., L. Yerushalmi, and F.
ronmental benefits that recovered paper Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Haghighat, “Wastewater Treatment in
offers are significant. However, pulps (DAAD) for a scholarship. the Pulp and Paper Industry: A Review
obtained from recovered papers pose a of Treatment Processes and the Associ-
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