Date of Award
8-2013
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Chemical and Paper Engineering
First Advisor
Dr. Paul D. Fleming III
Second Advisor
Dr. John Cameron
Third Advisor
Dr. Jan Pekarovic
Keywords
ultrasound, deinking, paper recycled, indigo, ElectroInk
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
Digital printing plays a very important role in the life of modern society. With the development of digital printing technologies, and the increasing market share of digital printing, the amount of digital prints in waste paper is rapidly increasing. Under “green” manufacturing and environmental sustainability, deinking of digital print inks is an urgent problem that needs to be solved. Indigo is a typical series of HP (Hewlett-Packard) digital presses that use a liquid ink named ElectroInk (Liquid Electrophotography or LEP). The particle size of HP ElectroInk is very small, 1-2 microns, which is smaller than dry toners. But, during flotation, the ink platelets were too big to be removed by foaming.
In this research, we focus on a new way of deinking that uses ultrasound treatment. Ultrasound could break down the ink platelets and then help the ink detachment from fiber. During the deinking processes, we choose both neutral and alkaline environments. For different ultrasound times, we will compare the results using a variety of Indigo certified substrates at 20 kHz. ElectroInks can be detached by ultrasound treatment and then we can remove them by conventional flotation technology.
Recommended Citation
Wei, Zheng, "Improved Deinkability of LEP (Liquid Electrophotography) Digital Prints" (2013). Masters Theses. 173.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/173