The role of fatty acid of Morinda citrifolia oil as surface-active chemicals on the deinking process of waste paper

Abstract

The natural surfactant from Morinda citrifolia seed oil was developed for deinking flotation. In this study, the comparative performances of natural surfactant and synthetic surfactant (SS) was investigated. Natural surfactants consist of several compounds element, namely saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The results provide a new phenomenon in which intermolecular bonding occurs between the tail of the carbon chains methyl ester (FAMC) and the ink particles, this is due to the presence of unsaturated compounds (C=C) in the carbon chains structure of fatty acid methyl ester. The results also show that the binding force between synthetic surfactant compounds and ink particles produces a higher viscosity when compared to the bonding forces between FAMC compounds and ink particles. These results indicate that natural FAMC surfactants can weaken the molecular bonds of the ink and increase the reactivity of ink particles. These results indicate that the deinking performance of natural surfactants is better than synthetic surfactants.