Demand for Quality Recycled Paper Propels Advances in Decontamination Technologies.

As demand increases for quality recycled paper, equipment manufacturers and researchers are working to improve the repulping process, where paper is broken down into fibers and ink and other contaminants are detached from the fiber's surface. If there is remaining ink in pulp after this process, that ink is probably still attached to fibers, but there is another recourse that serious paper mills use after flotation and washing to detach residual ink. With flotation, ink attaches to air bubbles that float to the top of a tank; the ink and bubbles are skimmed off, leaving clean fiber. [Extracted from the article]