Contactless Resonant Cavity Dielectric Spectroscopic Studies of Recycled Office Papers

Current product composition and quality test methods for the paper and pulp industries are rooted in wet-bench chemistry techniques which cannot be used to distinguish between virgin and secondary fibers. We have recently demonstrated the application of an in situ and nondestructive assessment metho...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inRecycling (Basel) Vol. 4; no. 4; pp. 43 - 0
Main Authors Kombolias, Mary, Obrzut, Jan, Postek, Michael T., Poster, Dianne L., Obeng, Yaw S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published MDPI AG 01.12.2019
Subjects
dielectric characterization
recycled fiber
recycled paper
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Summary:Current product composition and quality test methods for the paper and pulp industries are rooted in wet-bench chemistry techniques which cannot be used to distinguish between virgin and secondary fibers. We have recently demonstrated the application of an in situ and nondestructive assessment method based on dielectric spectroscopy (DS), which can address this deficiency in the testing of paper. The DS technique, which employs a resonant microwave cavity, could be applicable to quality assurance techniques such as gauge capability studies and real-time statistical process control (SPC), and may have inherent forensic capabilities. In this paper, we show how this DS technique can be used to distinguish between office copier paper products which may contain recycled fibers. We show a reasonable correlation between the dielectric characteristics (e.g., dielectric loss) and the atomistic level chemical changes that result from the paper recycling process.
ISSN:2313-4321
2313-4321
DOI:10.3390/recycling4040043