PAPER RECYCLING PROCESS

This report is submitted by

N150305
N150871
N151206
N150941
N150643

Under the Guidance of Asst.Prof. M.Rama Krishna

Rajiv Gandhi University Of Knowledge and Technologies

Department of Chemical Engineering
 Index

1.INTRODUCTION

2.RECYCLING UNIT PROCESSES

2.1.Collection of recyclables

2.2.Transportation of recyclables

2.3.Separation of recyclables

2.4.Separation of Paper products

2.5.Cutting

2.6.Pulping

2.7..Screening

2.8.Deinking

2.9.Thickening

2.10.Brightening

2.11.Drying

2.12.Paper making

3.SUMMARY
1.INTRODUCTION :

The principal raw material used in paper making are cellulose fibre
(derived from wood,residues such as rice straw,baggase).Several pulping
processes ranging from mechanical, chemi-mechanical to chemical, are used to
separate fibers in wood to produce virgin pulp. Important hard wood species
include aspen, oak, maple, and eucalyptus, while softwood types include
species of pine, spruce,fir, and larch. If the fiber is not severely contaminated
or has not deteriorated during its use in the paper or board product, it can be
reused again as secondary, or recycled material.

Additive coatings and inks used to increase the value and performance of
the paper or board products can cause problems in recycling.The value of the
recovered paper or board is a function of how difficult it will be to defiber, the
degree of contamination, and the requirements to restore the fiber
characteristics necessary to produce paper meeting the required specifications.

Paper mills have many choices for the selection of raw material. Virgin
sources include many species of softwoods and hardwoods while secondary
sources include various grades of recovered papers. There are more than 50
grades of recovered papers.Four widely used recovered paper grades, described
in the next section, include corrugated boxes, newsprint, high grades and mixed
papers. The choice of raw material, virgin and/or secondary, will depend on
many factors such as geographic location of the mill, product manufactured,
and economics.

2. RECYCLING UNIT OPERATIONS :

Unit operations plays an important role in all the processing industries in

the present era.While making recycled paper these unit operations are carried
out in a sequential order to get product.

There are approximately 13 processes are involved in the process of paper

recycling.They are
 2.1. Collection of recyclables :

In this step all recyclable items from the various places such as
House,Offices,Hospitals and Offices etc are collected.These mainly consists
of all kinds of wastes such as Plastics,Metals,Food materials and Papers etc.

2.2. Transportation of recyclables :

These collected waste is transported to the Material recovery places where

these are all segregated.
 2.3.Separation of recyclables :

The all kinds of wastes are segregated into different parts such as
Plastics,Glasses,Metals,Food materials and Papers etc.

2.4.Separation of Paper products :

The different types of paper generally collected for recycling are

categorized into different “paper grades.” The grade of a particular bale of
recovered paper depends on the type of paper that is actually in the bale, which
is a direct result of the type of collection and processing used to recover the
paper.

There are four basic paper grade categories:

 Corrugated containers

 News papers

 High grades

 Mixed papers

2.5.Cutting :

In this step waste papers are cut down into small pieces which helps to
increase the surface area.This increases the efficiency for soaking.

 Lab Scale :
For this process “Mixture” is used for the production of recycled paper.
 2.6.Pulping :

The process of waste paper recycling most often involves mixing used or
old paper with water and chemicals to break it down.It is then chopped up and
heated which breaks it down further into strands of cellulose ,a type of organic
plant material,this resulting mixture is called a pulp or slurry.Pulp is a
lignocellulose material,available abundantly.The main application of pulp is in
production of paper and board..Furnish of pulps used depends on the quality of
finished papers.Important quality parameter are wood,furnish, brightness,
viscosity, dirt and strength.

 Lab Scale :
For this process “Beaker” is used in the lab scale production of recycled
paper.
 2.7..Screening :

The most prominent unit operation in which different sized feed is get
separated into fractions based on its shape and the size is screening.The product
from pulping contains a lot of contaminants and enters as a feed to screening.

The main aim of screening is to remove particles other than fibre from
pulp product without any damage to fibre.The most common device used for
screening is pressure screens and gravity screens as tailing systems.The
pressure screens consists of a cylinder with either perforated holes or fine slots
which are attained by rotating hydrofoil or other rotating element providing
alternating pressure or vacuum pulses to the screening surface to keep it away
from binding with fibers or debris.The material that passes through screen
openings acceptable material are sent forward ,materials blocked will rejected
and once again they are processed.

 Lab Scale :
For this process “Circular sieve” is used in the lab scale production of
recycled paper.
 2.8.Deinking :

Deinking is the industrial process of removing printing ink from paper

fibers of recycled paper to make deinked pulp. The key in the deinking process
is the ability to detach ink from the fibers. This is achieved by a combination of
mechanical action and chemical means.

Chemicals are commonly used to enhance deinking.The goal of deinking is

to provide the conditions in the pulper that will advance the detachment of ink
from fiber, and then in subsequent equipment, separate the detached ink from
the pulp. Chemicals are commonly used to enhance deinking. Sodium
hydroxide is used to adjust pH.

 Lab scale :

This process is done by washing the screened fiber with water in a large jar
 2.9.Thickening :

In this step deinked fiber is collected in a large vessel and store it for
further process.As increase in the amount of fiber it becomes more dense and
useful for uni formal distribution of fiber in process of pressing.

Water with very fine impurities are removed in this process.Hence fiber
becomes more thick.
 2.10.Brightening/Bleaching :

Pulp bleaching is the process by which pulped wood particles are

brightened or whitened.In the production of white paper, the wood pulp is
bleached to remove any color from the trace amounts of lignin that was not
extracted in the chemical pulping process.

Commonly, bleaching sequences comprised of two or more bleach stages,

each using a different bleaching reagent, may be used to maximize the
brightness increase and color removal from the recovered fiber. For example,
an oxidative stage using hydrogen peroxide bleaching may be followed by a
reductive stage using sodium hydrosulfite or FAS.

 Lab Scale :
For this process “Bleaching Powder” is used for the production of
recycled paper.
 2.11.Drying/Water Clarification:

The main objective of this unit operation is the recycling of water which
was used in the process.Water clarification is the unit operation which removes
the bulk of suspended solids and the small amounts of dissolved solids from the
water making it reuse in the system.

Several techniques for Drying or Water clarification such as

A.Sedimentation

B.Dissolved air flotation

C.Filtration.

 Lab Scale :
In this process “Sponge” is used to absorb the unwanted water content in
the fiber.
 2.12.Paper making :

In this step refined fiber is passed through the roller where is distributes the
fiber uniformly with required thickness.finally this pressed wet paper is dried
again and stored in the form of roles for further usage.

 Lab Scale :
In the lab scale this process is done by pressing the fiber gently with
cylindrical pipe or rod and dry the rolled fiber in the sunlight for one or two
days.
3. SUMMARY :

Recycling one ton of paper can save 17 trees.Most paper can be recycled
up to 8 times to create new products.Leaves more trees for the sustainability
of our environment.Unit operations come in handy in the process of paper
recycling.Technical advancements are being done in the field of paper
recycling as its demand has been increasing day by day.Demand on fibre
increasing because of severe Deforestation.So,it is the right time to look into
best alternatives which can give more efficiency.