Environmental Science and Pollution Research
re m oving hazardous co m pounds effectively, without deterio- rating the quality of cellulose fibres. Through the application of TD-GC/MS and acetic acid treat m ent, the study uncovers previously undetectable co m pounds e m bedded within the paper m atrix. It confir m s their origin fro m printing inks and virgin wood. This approach de m onstrates that waste paper, particularly office paper, can be transfor m ed into a highly pure cellulose source suitable for further technological use. The work contributes new evidence supporting sustainable paper deconta m ination and offers an analytically supported m ethod to i m prove recyclability and safety in circular m ate- rial flows.
as aerogels, m e m branes, and hydrogels have been applied in various water purification strategies (Abdelha m id 2024; Yang et al. 2024). There is increasing use of environ m entally sustainable products based on the use of cellulose fibres in the construc- tion industry, where bio-co m pound (natural fibre) has the function of reinforce m ent in poly m er m atrix co m posites as it increases the m echanical strength of co m posites (Uppal et al. 2022). Cellulose fibres have recently been used in soil protection against erosion (Ishak et al. 2021) or in the pro- duction of hydrogels, which have a hydrophilic structure with the ability to retain large a m ounts of water within their three-di m ensional networks (Ioelovich 2021). The hydrogels have a m ore co m prehensive application; they can be used in bio m edicine, hygiene, phar m aceutics, food processing, che m istry, physical che m istry, water purification, agricul- ture, and other areas. Cellulose fibres obtained fro m waste paper m ay be con- ta m inated with additives that are used in paper production or are part of printing inks and adhesives. A higher degree of evaluation of cellulose fibres requires their higher purity (Pivnenko et al. 2015). Up to 348 co m pounds that m ay be present in paper m aterial are listed in the literature (Pivnenko et al. 2016). Up to 157 potentially hazardous co m pounds m ay be present in paper m aterial. A total of 133 che m ical substances have been assigned to the printing industry, the m ajority of which are solvents and poly m er resins used in inks, pig m ents, and dyes. Che m ical co m pounds that can- not be assigned to either paper production or the printing industry could potentially be by-products or conta m inants introduced into the production cycle through recycled paper (Pivnenko et al. 2016). Infor m ation on the occurrence of pollutants in waste paper should be crucial in deciding how to further apply the cellulose fibres used, especially considering their potential use for the food packaging industry. There is a lack of pub- lished data on the ability of weak organic acids to target additives used in paper production. Our findings are sup- ported by the results of Lee et al. (2011), Singh et al. (2020), and Itkor et al. (2024), all of which confir m that m ild acids alone are capable of significantly reducing additive content in separated cellulose fibres. The article ai m s to identify co m pounds that occur in waste paper and co m e fro m virgin wood (e.g. pesticides) or paper production technology, as well as the use of printing inks. It can provide the m issing infor m ation on the potential risks involved in using cellulose fibres fro m waste paper. The second objective was to assess the i m pact of re m oving calciu m carbonate on the quality of the cellulose fibres fro m the point of view of their further potential use. The origi- nality of this research lies in the syste m atic identification of a broad spectru m of organic pollutants present in waste paper and the verification of an extraction m ethod capable of
Materials and methods
Materials and their pre-treatment for further analysis
Separated sa m ples of waste paper (office paper, m agazines, and cardboard) were obtained fro m S m olo Co., a co m pany specializing in waste m anage m ent. Three sa m ples collected at 1- m onth intervals were analysed. Three office paper sa m ples were collected at m onthly intervals fro m the shredding facility operated by Archi- vace Skartace Co. in Ostrava, which provides paper shred- ding services within the city (Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic). This co m pany processes approxi m ately 540 tonnes of office paper annually. During each sa m pling session, 100 kg of waste office paper was collected and reduced on-site to a final weight of 10 kg. The sa m ple was then transported to the laboratory, where it was quartered to the required weight of 1 kg (Hennebert And Beggio 2021). These prepared sa m ples were used for che m ical analysis and cellulose fibre separation. Sa m ples of m agazines, cardboard, and m ixed paper were obtained fro m the sorting line operated by S m olo Co. The sorting line produces approxi m ately 150 kg/h of cardboard, 7.5 kg/h of m agazine paper, and 30 kg/h of m ixed paper. On a single day, 120 kg of cardboard, 24 kg of m ixed paper, and 10 kg of m agazine paper were collected. Sa m pling was con- ducted three ti m es. After collection, cardboard and m ixed paper sa m ples were shredded to obtain 10 kg portions. The m agazine paper was not quartered. The che m ical analysis results reported represent the average values obtained fro m three independent sa m ples. Waste paper sa m ples were cut into s m aller pieces (approxi m ately 1 c m ). To deco m pose carbonates, a m ixture of 20 g of office paper and 500 m L of 0.2 M CH ၸ COOH was prepared. The use of acetic acid does not represent a novel extraction m ethod; however, it is well docu m ented that this approach enables the recovery of cellulosic fibres with m ini m al da m age, specifically, without significant loss
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