Evaluating the impact of recycled fiber content on effluent recycling in newsprint manufacture.

This paper investigates the effect of using recycled fiber (RCF) in newsprint production on the effluent quality and its treatability using membrane operations for internal and external recycling and reuse. Increased chemical usage in RCF for deinking had significant impact on the silica and sodium content of the effluent which in turn limits the membrane's operation. Increasing the RCF content from 0% to 50% is estimated to increase the silica content from 4 to 119mgL(-1) and sodium content from 135 to 500mgL(-1).