Recycled Paper Mill Research Articles

Mass balance of polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) in a recycling paper mill

An extensive investigation on the input, formation and fate of PCDD/Fs in a recycling paper mill was carried out. Samples from different stages of the production process were analysed and a PCDD/F mass balance was calculated. The main PCDD/F input in the production process came from the waste paper, the main PCDD/F output resulted from the deinking sludge. No measurable amounts of PCDD/Fs are formed during the deinking or the paper-making processes. The PCDD/F concentrations in the recycled paper are about three times lower than the concentrations in the corresponding waste paper.

Identification of isopropylbiphenyl, alkyl diphenylmethanes, diisopropylnaphthalene, linear alkyl benzenes and other polychlorinated biphenyl replacement compounds in effluents, sediments and fish in the fox river system, wisconsin

Five polychlorinated biphenyl replacement dye solvents and a diluent present in carbonless copy paper were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in the following matrices: effluents from a de-inking–recycling paper mill and a municipal wastewater treatment plant receiving wastewaters from a carbonless copy paper manufacturing plant; sediments; and fish collected near both discharges in the Fox River System, Wisconsin. An isopropylbiphenyl dye solvent mixture included mono-, di- and triisopropylbiphenyls. Also identified were two dye solvent mixtures marketed under the trade name Santosol. Santosol 100 comprised ethyl-diphenylmethanes (DPMs), benzyl-ethyl-DPMs, and dibenzyl-ethyl-DPMs. Similarly, Santosol 150 comprised dimethyl-DPMs, benzyl-dimethyl-DPMs, and dibenzyl-dimethyl-DPMs. Diisopropylnaphthalenes, widely used as a dye solvent in Japan, were identified for the first time in the US environment. sec-Butylbiphenyls and di-sec-butylbiphenyls, likely constituents of a sec-butylbiphenyl dye solvent mixture, were tentatively identified. Linear alkyl benzenes (C10 to C13-LABs) constituted the Alkylate 215 diluent mixture. Although known to occur as minor constituents in linear alkyl sulfonate detergents, LAB residues have not been previously attributed to commercial use of LABs.