Direct reuse of plastic film with printing results in a colored polymer, wh
ich is less stiff and weaker than the original plastic upon re-extrusion. T
here is substantial economical and environmental incentive to remove the in
k (deink) from heavily printed plastic film so that it can be reused to pro
duce clear films. In this study, a commercial polyethylene film with water-
based ink printing was deinked using different surfactants under a variety
of conditions. At a pH of 12, water (containing no surfactant) can achieve
about 90% deinking, but less basic solutions are less effective; at a pH 10
and below, insignificant-deinking occurs. Solutions of cationic surfactant
are the most effective at deinking, showing high efficiency at surfactant
concentrations both above and below the critical micelle concentration (CMC
) over a pH range of 5-12. Amphoteric surfactant is effective above the CMC
over a wide pH range. Both anionic and nonionic surfactants are only effec
tive at deinking above the CHIC at very basic conditions, with anionic surf
actant being only slightly better than just water even at these high pH lev
els. The cationic surfactant is most effective and the anionic surfactant i
s least effective, possibly because the binder is an acidic acrylate with a
negative charge. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.