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Publication
Sustainable deinking processes to recover post-industrial printed plastic films
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| 5.81 MB | Adobe PDF |
Authors
Abstract(s)
The current commercial deinking technology uses non-bio-based surfactants and nonrenewable
surfactants, which are harmful to the environment. Therefore, the main objective
of current research is to develop an environmentally sustainable process for ink removal on
printed post-industrial flexible plastic films using bio-based surfactants. This process
focuses on obtaining a deinked plastic that may be reprinted, thus avoiding for inappropriate
disposal or reprocessing problems. The value increase of upcycling such post-industrial
waste makes it possible to match the quality of the virgin plastic, which is key to carrying
out an effective cost analysis of recycled plastic when compared to the new plastic films. In
this research, the use of aqueous bio-based surfactant solutions for plastic film deinking was
analyzed and discussed, since these surfactants are more environmentally friendly.
Dedicated laboratory deinking procedures were undertaken with transparent polyethylene
films printed by flexography with different conditions. In the end, a dedicated design
proposal for a prototype to industrially deink plastic films printed was presented and
discussed.
Description
Keywords
Plastic film recycling Deinking Solvent-based ink removal Cationic surfactant Biobased surfactants