, 1923-05-03
COUNTY FURNISHES
SUPERIOR PRODUCT
CARBON COUNTY BENTONITE SOLVES
CHEMISTS PROBLEM. PAPER
Can Be DE.INKED

1t is to Carbon County that the
nation must look for the most i'm
portant aid in the preservation of our
country's rapidly diminishing forests.
The increasing demand for wood
puln from which paper is made, is
threatening Americas forests and
for years experiments have been con-
Quoted by the leading chemists of
the country for the purpose of find
ing some way by which old papers
and turned back as good as new to
The paper markets Of the nation.
In Carbon County alone has a
substance been found which will
make the commercial de-inking of
old papers practical and profitable.
A white, porous substance, which
has lain within the confines of our
county for innumeraible years, has
been found to meet all the require
ments and the substance has apply
been described as "a clay with a
million p0ss. abilities"
Bentonite is the name of the new
find, and altho 1t is found in many
districts as far north as Canada and
as far south as Mexico, nowhere,
save in Carbon County. has there
been bentOnite discovered which can
be used p%rofitably in the de-inking
OF old papers.
Sidney d. Wells, engineer Of the
Federal Forest Products Laboratory
at Madison, Wisconsin,, in an inter-
view published in The Dearborn In,
dependent, tells of the discovery of
the de-inking properties of benton.
lite. He says:
I'VE we're making use of bentonite
in experiments on book paper
enamel. One day when some old
newspapers around the office were
being turned back into pulp l drop,
ped some Of this clay INTO the vat
This clay remains in solution a Ions
time and seems to have affinity fol
ink particles. l notice that clay
particles would fasten to ink parti,
cles and that when the pulp would
strike the sieves or swimmers, the
clay and ink particles would floal
through, leaving the pulp behind
down he waste pipe went the old
ink. Here was the very process we
had been attempting to discover for
years.
I'm de-inking paper. and especial
ly newspaper. 1t is comparatively
easy to loosen the carbon black by
dissolving the varnish of the print
ing ink by means of alkalies such
as sodium carbonate or caustic soda,
using as little as 40 pounds OF sod
ium carbonate to a ton OF paper and
temperatures as low as 100 degrees
Fahrenheit. Such treatment will not
injure groundwork pulp and II the
carbon black could be completely
washed out after liberating a salts
factory material would be obtained.
Unfortunately the fibers Of the
paper stock serve as a very effective
filter to mesh the particles OF car
o an dthere Ia no method that
permits their complete removal with
out excessive losses OF pulp or ex-
penditures OF time. power and water
that are prohibitive. In fact, a
point seems to be reached beyond
which II is impossible to remove the
remaining traces of ink. with bento-
mite. however. We have n substance
that will pass through ordinary fit
ors and carry the carbon black with
IT,"
BcG.dcl being used in the de-ink-
Ing OF old paper and n high finish
fer book paper benton!te has been
found very valuable IN tho making
Of several linds of building material
such as wall hoard. II Is n more
efficient and cheaper agent, Il IL
claimed. than those now being used
in making kalsomine and mixing
new paints. II Is used as a filler
In the manufacture of various tex
tiles and II Is expected to be In de-
mand as a filtering agent In munic-
ipal water plants. OIL companies
are experimenting with II In rcfln-
ing oil. Bon:onltc paste has been
proven %unequalled for tho attaching
of labels TO cans. Treasure" Soap
Is another product made from bento-
mite.
The Owyco Chemical Products
Company. n Wyoming corporation in
which there are Interested n num-
Der OF local people. has Installed n
large plant at Cheyenne where the
material is ground into fine particles
and shipped out over the country.
All Inquiries as to the use OF
bontonitc are being referred by the
government to the Wyoming com
pany. ms that onccr II considered
tho most reliable source OF informa-
ton.
Wilkinitc IL the 'radc name adopt
I'd by the Owyec Chemical Products
Company.