Tutorial: Recycling and Deinking 101, 1999 Pulping Conference Proceedings

Loreen Ferguson

American Fiber Resources

There are many excellent papers and books written on the subject of paper recycling and on individual pieces of equipment and chemistry. The objective of this tutorial is to provide a simple overview of the process and the role that the unit operations and chemistry has to play to provide good quality recycled pulp.

When becoming familiar with a new process, the tendency is to look at individual pieces of equipment and chemicals and their role in deinking or recycling. However, the recycle plant should always be viewed as a sum of the parts, rather than comprising units such as a pulper or screens or flotation cells. Losing sight of the fact that the entire process is interconnected can result in real problems. Changes made at the pulper can affect the flotation cells, the water clarification system and many of the other unit operations. It is important to always keep in mind that changes made to one area can have a significant effect in quite a different area.