Grant: Engage Grants Program

Resolute Forest Products is Canada's largest pulp and paper manufacturer, producing a wide range ofnewsprint, commercial printing papers, and market pulp. Ink removal is one of the most important steps in therecycling of papers. Resolute Thorold removes ink (deinking) by deinking technique is flotation deinking, aprocess that requires significant amounts of hazardous compounds such as hydrogen peroxide and strong acidsand bases. One environmentally friendly alternative that has not been previously applied to deinking isSubcritical Water Treatment (SWT). This technique has been successfully used to remove the entire range ofpolar to nonpolar compounds from soil, plants, and organic wastes. Because ink is a less polar compound, weexpect that SWT will be a highly efficient method for removal of ink from pulp and that it will demonstrate asimilar efficacy as flotation deinking while eliminating the use of organic solvents and other hazardouschemicals used during the floatation process and reducing the processing time. The purpose of this study is toinvestigate the use of subcritical water as a more effective, greener method of deinking compared to floatationdeinking in the removal of ink from waste paper pulp.