Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-18
The HQskin Letter 81 ' : %saa
DE.INKING OLD NEWSPAPERS.

Washington, D. c., Sept. 15.-Sav-
ing old newspapers that they may
be used again in the manufacture OF
newsprint may seem far removed
from the problems of forest conser-
walton, but as a matter OF fact II
is directly connected with the work
in which the forest service of the
United States department of agri-
culture is interested. This branch
of the governments many activities
has recently been conducting a series
of experiments in d%e-inking process,
and now announces that it has been
perfected and is practicable.
About $500 tons of old newspa-
'pers can be gathered daily in the larg-
er cities. it is estimated, and turned
into newsprint by this process. III
terms of forest acreage this means
roughly the saving of the cut each
year on about 275,O00 acres. This
acreage carries a crop not produced
in a year, but a spruce forest re
quiring 100 years or longer to grow
That is regarded as an important
saving, in view of the fact that the
daily consumption of newsprint il
the United States is approximately
1000 tons.
In its modern development the
production of newsprint depends up
on the forest for it's raw material
The present supply, coming largel!
from mills in the northeast and lake
states is derived from forests in Can,
United States now seriously depleted
| or from ISIS accessible forsts In Can
ada. The latter now furnish 90 pei
cent of the raw pulp used by mills
in this country.
Many of these mills, representing
immense investments, no longer hav'
a supply of raw material Of thel
own. but are dependent either on,
foreign supply of pulp, or on pulp
wood that must be hauled long dis
tances in the United States. Some o
these mill have their own supply 10
only 10 or 20 years in advance, ant
but one mill is known that has a sup
ply, strictly it's own. that is good TO
more than half a century. The in
creasing distances to the fast reced
ing forests mean added freight cost
and a higher priced product, Will
hanging over mills operating on I'M
ported pulp is the ever present posi-
bility of embargo, even now far iron
a theoretical menace. Thus the inven
tive to the development to the de
llhIuk pIpIGSS 10 apparent
Has Been Tried For Centuries
The use of old paper stock for tn
manufacture of paper is very old an
we find mention of a process in Den
mark as early as 1895. Seventy year
later German chemists were experl
menting in that direction, and IN 1l94
during the French revolution, Citizel
Mason, a woman, conducted an estaO
lishment for the conversion or old pa
pers into new. In 1901 Matthias hoop
| established the Neckinger mill at Der
mondsey, England. TO de-ink printe
papers and make new paper theretron
and in 1910 Henry f. Rogers, in a mil
near Hartford, Conn, made the frs
use in the United States of old paper
in the manufacture of paper.
It is only in recent years. however
that it has been realized that 1t woul
not only be good business to utillz
the enormous waste represented /
printed paper, but was an absolute lie
cessity if the consumption of news
print continued to grow and the SUP
ply Of spruce timber to diminish.
Early in 1921 the forest product
laboratory of the department Of aeri
culture undertook q series of compar
alive tests to determine the cfflcienc
of a process using bentonite to accom-
plish the heretofore almost impossibl
task OF washing all the carbon blac
out the macerated pulp after It ha
been loosened by alkalies. S. d. Wells
the engineer in charge Of the expert
ments, now reports that they wer
successful.
"In d~e-inking printed paper and es
p~ecially newspaper" says Mr.. Well:
lit is comparatively easy to loosen th
carbon black by di~ssolving the varnis
of the printing ink by use of alkaile'
Such treatment will not injure groun
wood pulp and if the carbon blac
could be completely washed out afte
liberation a satisfactory material woul
be obtained. Unfortunately the fibre
of the paper stock serve as a very e.
fective filter in enmeshing the part
cles of carbon and there are no NEAR
of washing in cOmmon use that vi
permit their cocmplete removal witho'
excessive losses of pulp or expenditui
of time, water and power that are PR
bibitive. In fact n point seems to
reached beyond which it is impossib
to remove the remaining traces of in
With bentonite, however. w have
substance that will pass through ord
nary filters and with its enormous su'
face, on account of the extreme flint