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I am working in a facility for mentally handicapped people. We are making paper
(Kami-suki in Japanese) using waste paper in our facility. However, the paper we made had some faults, it was too water absorbent, probably because we did not use good quality paper but waste paper such as used copy paper, drawing paper, and advertising paper for ingredients.
I heard from someone that it would be a good idea to grind milk cartons using a blender and to mix them with waste paper to improve the strength of our recycled paper. I tried it, however, the milk cartons were so strong that they broke our blender.
We don’t have enough money to buy a good blender. What should we do to make strong paper using waste paper as simply as possible? Please give us concrete methods.
K (Jan 2002)
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Answer:
Shigeharu Asai kindly answered this question;
The fibres used for modern paper such as copy paper are so short that it is almost impossible to recycle them using the traditional method, i.e., the method that produces intertwined fibres.
Instead, there is a method in which long fibres are mixed in. To people who are attempting to produce recycled paper using the methods similar to what you have described in this question, I used to advise adding fibres of
Kouzo (a plant – it was reported that this plant was brought from Korea to Japan around 1300 years ago with the technique for making paper). However, it is somewhat difficult for ordinary people to obtain
Kouzo because it needs to be ordered from a warehouse. So I now suggest that they use hemp line instead, because it is easier to get. Cut the hemp line into 5 to 10 mm pieces with scissors. Unravel them using a blender. Then mix 20% to 30% of the hemp line with 80% to 70% of the fibre from waste paper. It is possible to make stronger paper using this method. If you don’t like the brown color of hemp line, you can completely whiten it using chlorine bleach.
However, this process does not produce paper as hard and elastic as the original paper. Water still remains in the spaces between the fibres after the paper is produced. Even when it is mopped up by a towel or dried with an iron, the paper still has spaces between the fibres so that it is not strong and smooth but is instead soft and absorbent.
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Therefore, it is necessary to squeeze out the water between the fibres by applying pressure. Insert the paper between iron plates, and apply pressure with a jack (2 to 3 tons) to squeeze out the water
(see the picture on the right), thus fastening the fibres together. Then hydrogen bonds are generated causing the fibres to be intertwined with one another, making the paper strong.
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In addition, the spaces between fibres are so small that water cannot enter into the spaces, which means that the paper is less absorbent and not good for blotting.
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If you don’t have equipment such as iron plates and a jack, don’t worry. You can use your car jack instead. Put the paper between boards, and press the boards by jacking up your car
(see picture on left). Then leave it for several hours. You will thus obtain strong paper.
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If you try to obtain fibres from milk cartons using a blender, you could damage the blender. Boil the milk cartons with soda ash (which is a weakly basic solution), softening the bonds between the fibres in the milk cartons and reducing the burden on the blender. It is possible to use caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) instead, but please use it carefully.
Acknowledgement
Shigeharu
Asai
He is studying how to make better Japanese traditional paper, and teaching students about making paper in a school for disabled children. There is detailed information on his website.
This article is translated by Chemistryquestion.com from the original article in Chemistryquestion.jp. Please let us know if you find any errors.
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