Avaliação do papel reciclado produzido a partir de resíduos de papel

Abstract

The concerns about the environmental impacts caused by the process of manufacturing and disposing of waste paper have evolved significantly, since most printed information is supported by paper and its diverse applications are part of our daily lives. With this demand, recycling waste paper can reduce the amount of energy and water resources used and pollute the atmosphere less, as it doesn't need virgin raw materials for its production, which makes this a closed process. Instead of starting with the cellulose obtained from wood, waste paper is recycled, turning it into recycled paper. This work proposes using cardboard, cardboard and A4 paper as components of the mixture, added to water, to produce recycled paper. This work consists of producing recycled paper from waste paper and analysing the physico-chemical, mechanical and optical properties, as well as identifying the composition of the optimum mixture for the papers produced. The methodology used was based on the planning of three-component mixtures, where papers with different mass compositions were produced, with a fixed water composition of 97.56% and seven (7) different component compositions: cardboard 2.44%; cardboard 2.44%; A4 paper 2.44%; cardboard, 1.22% + cardboard 1.22%; cardboard 1.22% + A4 paper 1.22%; cardboard 1.22% + A4 paper 1.22%; and cardboard 0.81% + cardboard 0.81% + A4 paper 0.81%, and were processed using Statistica 8 software. The results show that the ternary mixture (C + P +A) responds best to grammage with 180g/m2, pH of 9.1 and humidity of 4.4%, when compared to virgin paper, followed by the pure P mixture (131 g/m2, pH of 8.8 and humidity of 4.4%) and finally the binary mixture between P + C (117 g/m2, pH 9.2 and humidity of 4.2%). The P exerts the greatest effect on the mixture and has a positive effect which favours characteristics similar to virgin paper and the purity of the paper is related to the colouring and previous use of the paper. After analysing the results, it was concluded that the optimum mixture is ternary, as it remains sufficient for the production of recycled paper and is economically and environmentally viable, as it can help to reduce deforestation, pressure on water and energy resources and encourage the proper disposal of solid waste.