Future Changes in Printing Processes and Ink Formulations and Their Effect on the Deinking Industry, 1994 Recycling Symposium Proceedings

Kate Cathie, Nick Pearson --Deinking is growing in importance as an industrial process. In 1988, approximately 11 million tonnes of fibre were deinked worldwide. By the year 2001 it is predicted that this figure will have increased to 31 million tonnes, with expansions in many different product sectors including newsprint, tissue, printing and writings, packaging and market pulp (Figure l)(l).

Figure 1. World deinked pulp usage

This predicted increase in deinking capacity is primarily due to legislation and environmental pressures. Such factors, coupled with technological advances, are also likely to have a dramatic influence on the printing processes and ink formulations used with paper products in the near future. Thus changing the deinking characteristics of secondary fibre.

The aim of this paper is to examine predicted changes in ink formulations and printing processes over the next ten years and highlight how they will affect conventional secondary fibre deinking.

The deinking industry can broadly be divided into two sectors: l) newsprint producing mills utilising wood containing secondary fibre and 2) tissue and printing and writing producing mills utilising essentially wood free secondary fibre.

Potential alterations to the furnishes used by both sector types will be described in turn.