Method for removing ink printed on plastic films
AssigneeUniversidad de Alicante
InventorsAndrés Fullana Font, Agustin Lozano Morcillo
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a method for removing ink printed on a plastic film comprising various physical/chemical treatments. The main steps in the method are: conditioning the material, grinding, removing ink from the film, washing the film, recovering the cleaning solution, recovering the pigment and drying the film. As a result of the method, it is possible to obtain, on one hand, a plastic film free of ink and, on the other hand, the pigment. Said products may be reused in industry, thereby enhancing the value chain of the product.
Claims11
A method for removing ink printed on a plastic film comprising the following steps;
- a) conditioning the input printed material in a plunger obtaining a film free of impurities;
- b) grinding the film free of impurities in a grinder;
- c) removing ink from the film in a cleaning system with a cleaning solution consisting of surfactants in water at basic pH, where a cleaning tank stirred with vanes generates a treated plastic film containing part of that cleaning solution and the dispersed ink residues, and in addition, the cleaning solution together with the ink removed from the film;
- d) washing the treated plastic film in the preceding cleaning system where at least two washing tanks obtain a clean film free of ink and cleaning solution residues;
- e) recovering the cleaning solution in a centrifuge;
- f) recovering the pigment in a thermal treatment reactor;
- and
- g) drying the film for obtaining a ground film free of ink and cleaning solution in a drying element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.