Comparison of Froth-flotation Efficiency between Fatty Acid and Non-ionic Surfactant Added to Recovered Paper with Increased Mixing Ratio of OMG

Abstract

The main sources of recovered paper for newsprint are old newsprint (ONP) and old magazine (OMG). Recently, a lot of advertisement flyers are flowing into bales of ONP and portion of OMG is increasing in recovered paper because the consumption level of coated paper increases. In this study, nonionic surfactant and fatty acid were used as the de-inking agent for froth-flotation process of mixed recovered paper to investigate the effect of increased mixing ratio of OMG. De-inking efficiency of nonionic surfactant decreased as the mixing ratio of OMG increased; ink removal efficiency of froth-flotation is poor, however, the reject ratio increases due to ash from OMG. In comparison with nonionic surfactant, the ash from OMG had a little effect on reject ratio and optical properties of fatty acid applied flotation accept. If nonionic surfactant and fatty acid are added to pulper and flotation cell sequentially, excessive ash from OMG may not give an adverse effect on de-inking efficiency of mixed recovered paper.