Abstract
The effect of wettability of deinking agents which formed with various nonionic surfactants against the pulp fibers and ink particles were studied, And the effect of flotation processes on the deinking were also investigated. The wettabilities of the deinking agents against the water and ink particles were measured by Washburn tube and sessile drop techniques, respectively. As the water absorption increased (i.e., hydrophilicity increased), the ink removal increased, which indicates that the ink removal is strongly affected by the detachment process due to the swelling of the pulp. Also, when the contact angle of air/ink/deinking agent increased, the hydrophobicity of the ink particles increased, the efficiency of the ink removal and the brightness increased.