Arjowiggins opens French mill to HP de-inking trials

France – Paper maker Arjowiggins Graphic has gone into partnership with Hewlett-Packard to study de-inking the printer manufacturer’s Indigo liquid toner and inkjet printed products at its Greenfield recycled pulp mill in France.

Arjowiggins already had a strong relationship with HP, producing papers certified for its printing machines, but following customer queries in the wake of liquid toner problems at a German de-inking mill last year, it decided to open up its advanced Greenfield mill for large-scale trials.

‘There’s a natural synergy between digital printing and recycling paper – they’re both aimed at reducing waste,’ said John Cooper, Customer Support Director at Arjowiggins Graphics.

‘We want to use our expertise and know-how to offer input from a practical point of view. We have to do the work on an industrial scale to resolve this and I have a vision to set up Greenfield as a centre of excellence for de-inking digital print.’ Initial discussions between the companies began in April, and a three-month pilot is expected to go ahead by the end of the year.

Mr Cooper said the results of the initiative would be shared ‘in the fullness of time’, but HP revealed it hopes to announce progress in time for Drupa, the four-yearly print media fair next taking place in Düsseldorf in May 2012. Describing the relationship as ‘a wonderful fit of objectives’, senior HP technologist Nils Miller said there were no fixed timescales, but added: ‘Drupa is such an important event, it’s a logical goal to have successful results under our belt, and to have something we can publish by then.’