HP's NEW 2-STEP PROCESS FOR REMOVING INK

[Anonymous]

http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/hewlett-packards-got-some-chemicals-for-removing-ink/
HP’s NEW 2-STEP PROCESS FOR REMOVING INK
Hewlett-Packard
says the answer to getting rid of ink on recycled paper revolves around
bubbles.HP Labs says it has devised a two-step process for removing ink
from paper, which in turn will aid the recycling process. First,
ethoxylated fatty alcohol is added to the vat of pulped paper to
separate ink particles from the paper fibers. Then, anionic surfactants
(check the medicine cabinet; you probably have some chewables made of
this) are added to collect the ink droplets into bubbles that can be
skimmed off the surface.”It gives us a universal deinking chemistry
that caters to digital commercial prints and inkjet dye-based ink.”
said HP Labs researcher Hou Ng in a prepared statement. “Our most
recent data shows that we were able to use this deinking chemistry for
offset media, like newsprint, which is one of the hardest media to
deink.”

A few years ago, HP showed off technology from making
plastic ink cartridges out of old G.I. Joes and other discarded
items.HP, of course, likes this technology because it can sell more
printers, but the real game is royalties. Like IBM and Microsoft, HP
garners millions a years from intellectual property licensing. The
effort started back in 2003 when HP formed an internal group dedicated
toward identifying interesting technologies in its labs and then
finding customers for them. HP has great science and scientists, but
sometimes has difficulty product-izing it all. Hence, they royalty
strategy.Patent licensing is often attacked by critics as unfair and
crippling to innovation. Then again, most of them haven’t invented
anything you’d want to steal.

[Author]

October 13, 2009 at 11:33 AM