Arjowiggins completes Indigo deinking trial
Consumables manufacturer Arjowiggins Graphic and digital press manufacturer HP have successfully completed a deinking trial for digital paper at its Greenfield Mill in France.
30 Dec 2011 | By Samir Lukka
During the trial the two companies deinked paper waste containing 5% HP Indigo printed paper combined with the standard mix of print waste.
The HP Indigo prints were made on a variety of coated and uncoated wood-free papers, with a representative range of ink density including high-coverage photo prints.
According to Arjowiggins research and development director Andrew Findlay, the trial, which was carried out in standard Greenfield Mill process conditions, achieved "saleable, high-quality deinked pulp suitable for coated or uncoated paper production".
He said: "Importantly, mill process efficiencies were unaffected."
Pinni Perlmutter, director of technology at HP Indigo, added: "HP was pleased with this successful deinking result, which involved over 9 tonnes of HP Indigo prints.
"This well-documented trial creates a useful performance benchmark as we continue to research ways of assessing and improving, as needed, HP Indigo print deinkability for a wide range of deinking mill operations."
However, deinking trade body Ingede questioned the value of the trial, because it was carried out at the highly specialised Greenfield site, a Bright White Office Paper mill, rather than at a standard de-inking plant.
Ingede's Axel Fischer said: "These results are interesting, but not surprising. This is not proof that it will work in every mill, this is not a model for a general deinking plant, and it does not change our attitude of the deinkability of Indigo."