The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-09-19
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC ,. HAsKIs. Direcaor.
Washington, d. O.
DE-1NKING OLD NEWSPAPERS.

| washington, II. Il, sept 1o."odN-
ing old newspapers that they may be
used again in the manufacture OF
newsprint may seem far removed
from the problems of forest conserva-
ton, but as a matter of fact it is
directly connected with the work in
which the forest service of the United
States department of agriculture is in
terested. This branch of the govern
iments many activities has recently
| been conducting a series OF expert
ments in de-inking process, and now
announces that it has been perfected
and is practicable.
| About $500 tons of old newspapers
can be gathered daily in the larger
cities, it is estimated, and turned into
Inewsprint by this process. In terms
of forest acreage this means roughly
the saying of the cut each year on
1 about 275,000 acres. This acreage
carries a crop not produced in year,
! but spruce forest requiring 100 years
or longer to grow. That is regarded
as an important saving, in view of the
fact that the daily consumption OF
newsprint in the United States is ap-
proximately 1000 tons.
| In its modern development the pro-
duction of newsprint depends upon
\ the forest for it's raw material Tne
present supply, coming largely from
mills in the northeast and lake states
1
States now seriously depleted, or from
less accessible forests in Canada. The
latter now furnish 60 per cent of the
raw pulp used by mills in this country
Many of these mills, representing
| immense investments, no longer have
a supply of raw material of their own,
but are dependent either on a foreign
supply of pulp, or on pulpwood that
must be hauled long distances in the
United States. Some of these mills
have their own supply To- only 10 or
20 years in advance, and but one mill
is known that has a supply, strictly its
own, that is good for more than half
century. The increasing distances
to the fast receding forests mean
added freight costs and q higher
priced product, while hanging over
mills operating on imported pulp is
the ever-present possibility of en-
barge, even now far from theoretical
menace. Thus the incentive to the
development of de-inking process is
apparent.
Has Been Tried for Centuries.
The use of old paper stock for the
manufacture of paper is very old and
we find mention of a process in Den
mark as early as 1885. Seventy years
later German chemists were expert
menting in that direction, and in 1874,
during the French Revolution, Citizen
Mason, a woman, conducted an estab-
lishment for the conversion of old
papers into new. In 1901 Matthias
Hoops established the Neckinger Mill
at Bermondsy, Englnad, to de-ink
printed papers and make new paper
therefrom, and in 1S49 Henry E.
Rogers, in a mill near Hartford, Con-
necticut, made the first use lin the
United States of old papers in the
manufacture of paper.
It is only in recent years, however,
L. 1srr~rl bot r1TTl n
not only be good business to utilize the
enormous waste represented in printed
paper, but was an absolute necessity
if the consumption of newsprint con-
tinued to grow and the supply of
spruce timber to diminish.
Early in 1921 the Forest Products
laboratory of the department of agri-
culture under took a series of COM
parative tests to determine the eff
cheney of process using bentonite
to accomplish the heretofore almost
impossible task of washing all the
pulp after it has been Ioosened by
alkalies. S. D. Wells, the engineer
in, charge of the experiments, now
reports that they were successful.
TN de-inkinng printed paper and
especially newspaper" says Mr.. Wells,
the carbon black by dissolving the
varnish of the printing ink by use
of alkalies. Such treatment will not
injure ground wood pulp and If the
carbon black could be completely
washed out after liberation a salts
factory material would be obtained.
Unfortunately the fibers of the paper
stock serve as a very effective filter
in enmeshing the particles of carbon
and there are no means of washing
in common use that will permit their
complete removal without excessive
losses of pulp or expenditures of time,
water and power that are prohibitive.
In fact a point seems to be reached
beyond which it is impossible to re-
move the remaining traces of ink.
With bentonite, however, we have a
substance that will pass thru ordinary
filters and with it's enormous surface,
on account of the extreme fineness of
its particles, will carry all the carbon
black along with it,
Best Supply from Wyoming.
Bentonite is defined by the geo.
logical survey as "a transported,
stratified, volcanic ash that has been
altered shortly after deposition 1t
is very fine grained and has the prop
erty of swelling in contact with water
to several times its original volume.
Like any natural product different de-
posts vary considerably and Mr.. Wells
says that the best supply that has
come to his notice is found in Wyom-
ing.
1.-THE possibilities of a process for
the recovery of old newspaper stock
are apparent to anyone familiar with
the paper industry" says Mr.. Wells.
when the price paid for old paper
stimulated collection, 1t is reported
that about $4,000 tons per month were
collected in Chicago, of which 40 per
cent was news. During the same
period Cleveland Is reported to have
handled $50 tons per day, of which
I n
metropolitan centers probably $500
tons per day were collected which
would furnish a very considerable por-
ton of our daily consumption of 1000
tons of newsprint. The source of this
raw material is furthermore at the
place of consumption and the saving
in freight is a very important item.
The color requirements of the pub
fishers at the present time are very
severe and any process that does not