Improved de-inking of inkjet-printed paper using environmentally friendly atmospheric pressure low temperature plasma for paper recycling

Nowadays, due to environmental pollution and natural energy consumption caused by waste paper, many researches are being conducted on the reuse of printed-paper. To recycle the paper, de-inking has to be performed. In this article, in order to reduce the use of the commonly used de-inking chemicals, the effect of an atmospheric pressure helium plasma treatment on the de-inking enhancement of printed-paper is studied. Through colorimeter and UV-visible spectrometer measurements the plasma treatment is shown to speed up the de-inking. While SEM observations and FTIR measurements suggest that the paper quality is retained upon plasma treatment, the increase of surface hydrophilicity measured by water contact angle measurements, compared to non-treated paper, is believed to enhance the fiber swelling of the paper and lead to a faster ink removal.