Photo by V. Miller
Sept. 28, 2005
Air Bubbles and Recycling Paper
Does Bubble Size Affect Recycling Paper?
Tanner Michael Hento, 15, Avon, S.D.
Finalist, Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, 2005
Category: Environmental Science
Recycling paper is an important process in today's society. However, in order to successfully recycle paper, contaminants such as ink need to be removed. One such method is to bubble air through a mixture of newspaper, water, and soap. The purpose of this experiment was to look at the relationship between bubble size and the amount of ink removed.
Using a blender, I ground up used copier paper and mixed it with a common dishwashing surfactant and water. I then bubbled air through the mixture. A mixture of foam and ink would rise to the top. This was then collected and filtered. Using a stereomicroscope, I counted the number of ink specks that remained on the filter paper. I amassed this filter paper and compared it to the mass of filter paper for the control solution for which I had not bubbled air through. I then repeated this experiment for different-sized bubbles.
By comparing the number of ink specks and the difference in mass between the sample and the control filter paper, I could determine which bubble size removed the most ink. The smallest bubble averaged 17 ink specks per 0.5-millimeter square. The smallest bubble recorded an average mass of 0.39 gram, while the largest bubble had an average of 0.32 gram. I concluded that the smallest bubble size collected the most ink.
Better ink-removal techniques could produce significant savings on the 50 million tons of paper recycled last year.
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