LAUSR

Water-based flexographic-printed ink has attracted much attention due to the reduced emission of volatile organic compounds in the printing process. However, it is difficult to remove water-based ink particles with small particle size and high hydrophilicity because they are easily reabsorbed onto cellulosic fibers during wastepaper recycling. In this paper, the absorption mechanism of water-based ink particles onto fibers was studied by using isotherm models and adsorption dynamic kinetics models at different temperatures. The adsorption process was fitted to the Freundlich isotherm, and the adsorption behavior was spontaneous and exothermic processes with an increase of entropy. It fitted well with the pseudo-second-order rate model, and the equilibrium adsorption amounts at three temperature conditions were 2.55, 2.34, and 2.21 mg/g, respectively. The B value was 9.20 g·mg−1·min−1, and the Ea value was 15.6 kJ·mol−1. The results showed that it was easier to remove the water-based ink particles from cellulosic fibers under shorter contact time and higher operation temperature during wastepaper recycling. It would be helpful to optimize the wastepaper recycling operation and to develop a novel deinking process.