JPH07287491A - Reproducing method of recording material and image removal promoting liquid used in the reproducing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image removal accelerating liquid capable of removing the colored matter of film-like images formed by copying machines of an electrophotographic type, thermal transfer printers, etc., from paper type layers consisting of cellulose and a regenerating method for materials to be recorded by using this liquid. CONSTITUTION:This regenerating method for the materials to be recorded comprises imparting the liquid (image removal accelerating liquid) contg. water to the materials which are to be recorded and are formed by fixing the film-like image forming materials exhibiting thermoplasticity or hot meltability on paper type layers and peeling the hydrophobic images from the paper type layers after degradation of their adhesive power. This image removal accelerating liquid contains at least one kind of enzymes to decompose or reform the paper type components and/or the residual coloring matter from the toners.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an electrophotographic copying machine, a printer, a thermal transfer printer, or a hot-melt ink jet, in which a thermoplastic or thermofusible image forming substance is applied to a recording material whose surface to be imaged is a paper-like layer. A reproduction method in which an image is formed by being fixed by, and making it ready for reuse.
And an image removal promoting liquid used in the reproducing method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Due to recent OA, printer paper and copying paper have come to be used in large quantities. As a result, the problem of deteriorating the global environment due to deforestation has become a problem. Conventionally, to solve this problem, the only method is to remove the ink or the like from the used paper, soak it again, and use it again as recycled paper. However, recently, a paper has been developed in which a character image on a used paper can be removed by cleaning and reused for copying or printing. For example, in JP-A-4-67043, the surface of a sheet-like support,
In particular, it is disclosed that only one side is subjected to a release treatment, and the release-treated recording material is marked to distinguish it from plain paper. However, this is a special paper and has problems such as poor fixability, and thus there is a problem in using it as general copying paper. Further, JP-A-1-101576 and JP-A-1-101577 disclose that an image is removed by ultrasonically treating a toner on an image forming support in an organic solvent that dissolves the toner. However, there is a problem with pollution due to organic solvents, ignition and toxicity, and there is a problem with using it in general offices and homes. JP-A 1-2
In JP 97294, an image-forming support made of plastic, metal, paper having poor liquid permeability, ceramics or the like is used, and an image formed on the support is provided with a heat-meltable release material. A cleaning method of interposing and heating to peel the image from the support is disclosed.
Special paper with a release treatment on its surface must be used. Therefore, the present applicant dips a toner image obtained by an ordinary copying machine without using a special paper in an image removing liquid (image removing accelerating liquid) containing water and peels off the image (transfer member). We proposed a reusable copy and printing paper that can be erased by the body. However, some toners have a problem in that a colored substance such as a dye remains slightly from the toner.

[0003]

[Object] The object of the present invention is to elute from an image forming substance of a film-like image showing thermoplasticity or heat melting property, which is formed by an electrophotographic copying machine, a printer, a thermal transfer printer, or a hot melt inkjet. An object of the present invention is to provide an image removal promoting liquid containing an enzyme capable of removing a coloring matter remaining on a recording material as an afterimage from a paper-like layer made of cellulose, and a method of reproducing a recording material using the image removal promoting liquid. .

[0004]

The present invention is formed into a film with an image-forming substance having a thermoplastic or heat-melting property, such as toner for an electrophotographic copying machine, thermal transfer type ink, hot melt ink jet ink, and the like. A method for reproducing a recording material that erases an image formed and fixed near the surface of the recording material without penetrating into the wall of the paper fiber such as cellulose, and an image removal promoting liquid used in the reproducing method, particularly image formation The present invention relates to an image removal accelerating liquid having an excellent cleaning property for erasing an afterimage which is eluted from a substance and permeated into a recording material. The present invention provides a recording material having a paper-like layer made of a natural polymer such as cellulose fiber swelling with water at least in the vicinity of the surface on which an image is formed, a toner of an electrophotographic copying machine, and a thermal transfer method. Ink, hot-melt ink-jet ink or other image-forming substance that exhibits thermoplasticity or heat-melting property forms a film in the form of a film, that is, an image that does not substantially penetrate the paper-like fiber wall such as cellulose, and contains water as a main component. , An image removal promoting liquid containing at least one enzyme that decomposes or modifies the coloring residue from the paper component and / or the toner, and swells the paper layer to obtain a difference in swelling with the image forming substance. By contacting a member having higher adhesiveness with the image forming substance than the paper-like layer under heating and / or pressure in a state where the adhesiveness between the recording material and the image forming substance is weakened by utilizing The serial image forming substance and removing without damaging the surface layer of the recording material. The applicant of the present invention forms a film from a recording material, which is composed of a paper-like layer containing cellulose fibers as a main component, at least partially by an image removal accelerating liquid containing an aqueous solution containing a surfactant and / or a water-soluble polymer. Although a method of removing and reusing the formed image-forming substance has been proposed, an image formed in the form of a film such as a conventional toner by further containing an enzyme that decomposes or modifies the paper-like layer of the recording material is proposed. It has been found that it is possible to remove from the fibers the components that have been leached from the forming material and have become an afterimage. As the recording material of the present invention, at least the vicinity of the surface on which an image is formed is composed of a paper-like layer whose main component is a polysaccharide natural polymer such as cellulose fiber, and is mainly used for copying or printing paper. However, the recording material is not limited to these, and all the recording materials that can be image-formed by providing a sheet-like member with a paper-like layer of cellulose fiber or the like are composed of the paper-like layer. It does not have to be a sheet and may be, for example, a laminate of a paper layer and a plastic layer.

Cellulase, which is a cellulolytic enzyme, amylase, which is a starch degrading enzyme, lipase, which is a triglyceride degrading enzyme, and protease, which is a proteolytic enzyme, are used as enzymes for decomposing or modifying a component of a recording material. can give. It is presumed that this is because the addition of these causes the paper quality of the recording material and / or the color residue from the toner to be decomposed or modified, but there is no color residue in the recording material and It was revealed that the reproduction condition was improved. As a constituent component of the image removal accelerating liquid of the present invention, water is an essential component in addition to the enzyme component, and a surfactant and / or a water-soluble polymer is added thereto as required. As a particularly preferred enzyme, an alkaline cellulase that exhibits enzymatic activity when the pH of the image removal promoting liquid is on the alkaline side is particularly preferred. The amount of alkaline cellulase added in the image removal accelerating solution may be 0.01 to 5% by weight. If it is 0.01% or less, no effect is obtained, and if it is 5% by weight or more, dispersibility is poor and activity is poor. Further, the enzyme used in the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned ones, and a preferable enzyme can be selected and used as appropriate according to the component substances remaining in the paper layer. Further, since the image removal accelerating liquid of the present invention contains an enzyme, the application temperature of the image removal accelerating liquid to be adopted is preferably from 30 ° C to 50 ° C although its suitable activation temperature varies depending on the kind of the enzyme used. The decomposition rate is slow at low temperatures, and the decomposition activity is reduced at high temperatures. 1 when peeling this
It becomes inactive by heating above 00 ° C. This can prevent excessive decomposition of the recording material. Further, a bleaching agent can be added for the purpose of improving the whiteness of the recording material after reproduction. Specific examples of the oxidative bleaching agent include hydrogen peroxide, sodium peroxide, sodium percarbonate, sodium hypochlorite and the like. Fluorescent dyes, bluing dyes and the like can also be contained.

The image removal accelerating liquid of the present invention uses water as a solvent and may optionally contain a surfactant and / or a water-soluble polymer, but the surfactant is in a range not hindering the activity of the enzyme. In addition, it is preferable to add it in the range where the wettability to the recording material is obtained. The addition amount is 0.01% to 30% by weight, and preferably 0.1% to 5% by weight.
As the surfactant, it is preferable to add one having high stability of dispersion or dissolution in water. Specifically, anionic surfactants include soaps, N-acyl amino acid salts, alkyl ether acetates, carboxylates such as acylated peptides, alkyl sulfonates, alkylbenzene sulfonates, alkylnaphthalene sulfonates, Sulfosuccinate, α-olefin sulfonate, N
-Sulfonates such as acyl sulfonates, sulfated oils, sulfates such as alkyl sulfates, alkyl ether sulfates and alkyl amide sulfates, alkyl phosphates, alkyl ether phosphates, alkyl aryl phosphates And the like. Examples of the cationic surfactant include aliphatic amine salts, alkyl quaternary ammonium salts, aromatic quaternary ammonium salts, and heterocyclic quaternary ammonium salts. As the amphoteric surfactant,
Betaine types such as carboxybetaine and sulfobetaine,
Examples include aminocarboxylic acid salts and imidazoline derivatives. Nonionic surfactants include polyoxyethylene alkyl and aryl ethers, polyoxyethylene styrene ethers, polyoxyethylene lanolin derivatives, ethylene oxide derivatives of alkylallyl formaldehyde condensates, polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene block copolymers, Ether type such as polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene alkyl ether, polyoxyethylene glycerin fatty acid ester, polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acid ester, polyoxyethylene sorbitol fatty acid ester and other ether ester type, polyethylene glycol fatty acid ester, fatty acid monoglyceride, polyglycerin fatty acid Ester, sorbitan fatty acid ester, propylene glycol fatty acid ester, sucrose fatty acid ester, etc. Ester, aliphatic alkanolamide, polyoxyethylene fatty acid amides, polyoxyethylene alkyl amines, nitrogen-containing type such as alkyl amine oxides. Examples of the fluorinated surfactants include anionic ones such as fluoroalkylcarboxylic acid salts and fluoroalkylsulfonic acid salts, amphoteric ones such as fluoroalkyl introduced betaine, nonionic ones and cationic ones. Examples of the silicone-based surfactant include polyoxyalkyl-modified siloxane and carboxylated polyoxyalkyl-modified siloxane.

The water-soluble polymer that can be added to the image removal accelerating liquid may be a natural type or a pure synthetic type.
It is preferably a pure synthetic system which is not decomposed by an enzyme, for example, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, vinyl-based polymers such as polyvinyl methyl ether, non-crosslinked polyacrylamide, polyacrylic acid and alkali metal salts thereof,
Acrylic resin such as water-soluble styrene acrylic resin, water-soluble styrene maleic acid resin, water-soluble vinyl naphthalene acrylic resin, water-soluble vinyl naphthalene maleic acid resin,
Polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinyl alcohol, alkali metal salt of β-naphthalenesulfonic acid formalin condensate, polymer compound having side chain with a salt of cationic functional group such as quaternary ammonium or amino group, natural polymer compound such as shellac Is mentioned. The amount of these water-soluble polymers added is in the range of 0.1 to 20% by weight.

Any other additive to the image removal accelerating liquid may be used as a pH adjusting agent as long as it can adjust the pH to 7 or more without adversely affecting the prepared image removal accelerating liquid. Can be used. Examples thereof include amines such as diethanolamine and triethanolamine, hydroxides of alkali metal elements such as lithium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide, quaternary ammonium hydroxide and quaternary phosphonium. Examples thereof include hydroxides, carbonates of alkali metals such as lithium carbonate, sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate.
As the antiseptic / antifungal agent, sodium dehydroacetate, sodium sorbate, sodium 2-pyridinethiol-1-oxide, sodium benzoate, sodium pentachlorophenol and the like can be used in the present invention. Examples of the chelating agent which is a heavy metal ion sealant and a bleaching aid include sodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate, sodium nitrilotriacetate, sodium hydroxyethylethylenediaminetriacetate, sodium diethylenetriaminepentaacetate, and sodium uramildiacetate. Examples of the rust preventive agent include acidic sulfite, sodium thiosulfate, ammonium thiodiglycolate, diisopropylammonium nitrite, pentaerythritol tetranitrate, and dicyclohexylammonium nitrite.

The contact angle of the image removal promoting liquid with the image forming material (toner) is preferably 90 degrees or less, more preferably 50 degrees or less. The surface tension is 7
It is 0 mN / m (dyne / cm) or less, more preferably 50 mN / m or less. The permeation rate of the image removal promoting liquid into the recording material is 10 ml / m ² or more at t (contact time between the liquid containing water and the recording material) = 0.4 seconds,
It is preferably 12 ml / m ² or more. The image removal accelerating liquid as described above is applied to the recording material to weaken the adhesive strength of the recording material with the film-shaped image forming substance, and then the recording material and the peeling member are pressed, heated or pressed. The image is peeled off from the recording material by heating and contacting. As shown in 16 of FIG. 2, a thermoplastic or heat-meltable substance which is preferable as an image forming substance for forming a film-like image that does not substantially penetrate the paper fibrous wall is polystyrene, alkyl polyacrylate, polymethacrylic acid. Alkyl, styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, styrene-acryl copolymer, styrene-butadiene copolymer, polyamide, polyethylene,
It is preferable to contain at least one thermoplastic resin such as polypropylene, alkyd resin, epoxy resin, polyvinyl acetate, ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), unsaturated polyester, polyvinyl chloride, and silicone resin. Examples of the coloring material include inorganic and organic pigments such as carbon black, quinacridone derivatives, phthalocyanine derivatives and benzidine yellow, but oil-soluble dyes are also used. Further, a charge control agent is added in the electrophotographic system in which various additives are contained depending on the image forming method, various waxes are added as vehicles in the thermal transfer ink, and a rosin (abietic acid) derivative is added as an adhesive.

In the present invention, the shape of the peeling member for transferring the image forming substance from the recording material may be belt-like or roll-like, and the material thereof may be various polymers or metals such as aluminum and nickel. To be Also, a structure in which a metal and a polymer are laminated can be used. Examples of the polymer sheet include polyethylene terephthalate, polyimide, polyether sulfone, polycarbonate, polyarylate, aramid, and polyether ether ketone. These may contain an inorganic filler such as carbon, calcium carbonate, or titanium oxide for the purpose of improving durability.

An example of the device used in the present invention is shown in FIG. From the paper feed tray 1 which supplies a recording material having a surface layer of cellulose on which a film-like image forming substance is formed, a feed roller 2 guides a guide plate 3 to a peeling roller 5 by a conveying roller 4. An image removal accelerating liquid 7 is applied to the surface of the peeling roller 5 by a liquid supply roller 6, and the recording material conveyed from the conveying roller 4 is coated and impregnated with the image removing accelerating liquid 7 and comes into contact with a peeling member. The recording material is heated by the heating roller 8
After heating and pressure contacting with each other, the separation member 9 separates the peeling member from the recording material. The separated peeling member is cleaned from the surface of the peeling roller 5 by the toner cleaning unit 10 and then cleaned from the surface of the peeling roller 5 again.
The image removal promoting liquid is applied to the surface of the peeling roller 5 again. In the above device, adjacent to the peeling roller 5,
At least one heat roller capable of retransferring the film-like image forming substance of the peeling roller 5 is provided, and the film-like image forming substance retransferred onto the roller is scraped by at least one of the heat rollers. With a blade that can
The peeling roller 5 can be cleaned by scraping off the film-shaped image forming substance with the blade. On the other hand, the image of the recording material separated by the separation claw 9 is erased, guided by the conveying roller 11 onto the drying belt 12, and dried. The dried image-free image support is discharged to the discharge tray 13 by the transport roller 11,
A recording medium that can be re-copied and re-printed can be obtained.

Next, examples of the present invention will be specifically described.

【Example】

Example 1 An image removal promoting liquid A was prepared with the following formulation. BT7 (Nonionic surfactant manufactured by Nikko Chemicals, trade name) 0.5% Alkaline cellulase 0.5% Na benzoate 0.1% Pure water Remaining amount Styrene acryl (glass transition temperature: 60 ° C): 90% by weight, An image is formed on a commercially available high-quality paper with an electrophotographic PPC copying machine using a toner composed of 5% by weight of carbon black and 5% by weight of an alloy azo dye as a charge control agent, and the image removal promoting liquid A is used. Then, the peeling member made of PET was heated and pressed, and the image was erased by the apparatus shown in FIG. The obtained recycled paper had a high whiteness and no residual image of toner was observed. When it was reused in the above copying machine, a beautiful copied image could be obtained. Similarly, the reproduction state of the recording material was examined for Examples 2 to 7 and Comparative Examples 1 to 5.

Example 2 An image removal promoting liquid B was prepared according to the following formulation. BT12 (Nonionic surfactant manufactured by Nikko Chemicals, trade name) 0.8% Alkaline cellulase 0.5% Amylase 0.1% Dehydroacetic acid Na 0.1% Pure water Remaining amount Toner changed to polyester instead of styrene acrylic When an image on a commercially available high-quality paper was erased in the same manner as in Example 1 except that it was used, the whiteness was high and re-copying was possible.

Example 3 An image removal promoting liquid C was prepared according to the following formulation. Softanol 70 0.8% (Nippon Shokubai's nonionic surfactant trade name) Alkaline cellulase 1% Alkaline protease 0.5% 2-Pyridinethiol-1-oxide Na 0.1% Pure water Remainder Example 1 and When the image was erased in the same manner, the whiteness was high and re-copying was possible.

Example 4 An image removal promoting liquid D was prepared according to the following formulation. Softanol 120 0.5% (Nippon Shokubai nonionic surfactant trade name) Sodium laurylbenzenesulfonate 0.5% Alkaline cellulase 0.5% 2-Pyridinethiol-1-oxide Na 0.1% Pure water Residue When the image was erased in the same manner as in Example 2, the whiteness was high and re-copying was possible.

Example 5 An image removal promoting liquid E was prepared according to the following formulation. BT-9 (Nonionic surfactant manufactured by Nikko Chemicals, trade name) 1% Alkaline cellulase 0.5% Sodium percarbonate 0.1% Pentachlorophenol Na 0.1% Pure water Remaining amount Carnauba wax: 30% by weight, Paraffin wax:
20% by weight, EVA: 30% by weight, carbon black:
An image was formed using a thermal transfer ink consisting of 10% by weight and Nigrosine: 10% by weight, and an ink ribbon consisting of a polyester base film on a commercial high-quality paper for thermal transfer using a thermal head of 300 dpi, and using the image removal accelerating liquid E. When the image was erased as in Example 1, the whiteness was high and re-recording was possible.

Example 6 An image removal promoting liquid F was prepared according to the following formulation. BT-9 (trade name, manufactured by Nikko Chemicals) 0.8% Cellulase T “Amano” 4 (trade name, manufactured by Amano Pharmaceuticals) 0.5% Amylase 0.1% Lipase 0.1% Na benzoate 0.1% Pure water Remaining amount When the image was erased in the same manner as in Example 5, the whiteness was high and re-recording was possible.

Example 7 An image removal promoting liquid G was prepared according to the following formulation. Softanol 120 (Nippon Shokubai brand name) 0.8% Cellulase T "Amano" 4 (Amano Pharmaceutical brand name) 0.7% 2-Pyridinethiol-1-oxide Na 0.1% CMC 0.2% Pure water Remaining amount When the image was erased in the same manner as in Example 1, the whiteness was high and re-copying was possible.

Comparative Example 1 When image erasing was performed on commercially available high-quality paper as image removal accelerating liquid H in the same manner except that the alkaline cellulase in image removal accelerating liquid A of Example 1 was removed, a slight residual image was observed. Was given.

Comparative Example 2 When image erasing was performed on commercially available high-quality paper in the same manner as image removal accelerating liquid I, except that the alkaline cellulase in image removal accelerating liquid B of Example 2 was removed, a slight image was obtained. An afterimage was observed.

Comparative Example 3 Image erasing on a commercially available high-quality paper was carried out in the same manner as the image erasing accelerating liquid J except that the alkaline cellulase and alkaline protease of the image erasing accelerating liquid C of Example 3 were removed. The afterimage of the image was recognized in.

Comparative Example 4 When the image removal accelerating liquid K of Example 4 was removed in the same manner as the image removal accelerating liquid K except that the alkaline cellulase was removed, the image was slightly erased. Afterimage was observed.

Comparative Example 5 When an image was removed on a commercially available high-quality paper as an image removal promoting liquid L in the same manner as in Example 5, except that the alkaline cellulase and sodium percarbonate of the image removal promoting liquid E were removed, the image was slightly removed. An afterimage of the image was observed.

[0024]

【effect】

(1) According to the present invention, an electrophotographic toner, a thermal transfer printer ink, a hot melt ink jet ink, or the like is eluted from an image-forming substance that forms a film-like image showing thermoplasticity or thermal melting property, and as a residual image on a recording material. The recording material can be reproduced well by removing the coloring matter remaining in the recording medium with an image removal promoting liquid containing an enzyme. (2) According to the present invention, by using an enzyme that efficiently decomposes a paper-like component, particularly an alkaline cellulase, it is possible to efficiently regenerate the paper without lowering the strength of the paper. (3) According to the present invention, the whiteness of the recording material after reproduction can be increased by adding a bleaching agent and a fluorescent paint to the image removal promoting liquid. (4) According to the present invention, by providing a method for reproducing a recording material using an image removal accelerating liquid to which an enzyme is added, a film-like image formed by a copying machine or a printer is erased without damaging the paper surface. In such a reproducing method, the reproduced state can be improved to increase the whiteness, the re-copying and re-printing can be improved, and the effect of reducing the paper consumption is further enhanced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a cross section of a recording member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Feeding Tray 2 Feeding Roller 3 Guide Plate 4 Conveying Roller 5 Peeling Roller 6 Liquid Supply Roller 7 Image Removal Accelerating Liquid 8 Heating Roller 9 Separation Claw 10 Toner Cleaning Section 11 Conveying Roller 12 Drying Belt 13 Discharging Tray 14 Conveying Rib 15 Collection container for collected toner 16 Film-form image formed material 17 Recording member

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A paper quality layer containing cellulose fibers as a main component at least near the surface on which an image is formed,
Further, a liquid containing water (image removal accelerating liquid) is applied to a recording material having a film-like image-forming substance having thermoplasticity or heat-melting property fixed to the paper-like layer to form a film of the recording material. In the method for reproducing a recording material, wherein the hydrophobic image is peeled off from the paper-like layer by an image peeling means after the adhesive force between the striped image and the recording material is weakened and the adhesive strength is reduced. A method of regenerating a recording material, wherein the accelerating liquid contains at least one enzyme that decomposes or modifies the coloring residue from the paper component and / or the toner. 2. The method of reproducing a recording material according to claim 1, wherein the image removal promoting liquid is applied to the recording material,
A method for regenerating a recording material, comprising heating at a temperature at which the activity of the enzyme is not impaired, heating at a temperature at which the activity of the enzyme disappears, and then removing the film-like image-forming substance from the recording material. 3. A paper quality components and / or thermoplastic or thermofusible wherein the coloring residue from the toner are those containing at least one and water of the enzyme to degrade or modify the recording material An image removal accelerating liquid used in a method for reproducing a recording material having a film-shaped image forming substance adhered thereto. 4. The image removal accelerating liquid according to claim 3, wherein a surfactant and / or a water-soluble polymer compound is added. 5. The image removal accelerating liquid according to claim 3, wherein a bleaching agent and / or a fluorescent dye is added. 6. The image removal promoting liquid according to claim 3, wherein the enzyme is at least one kind of enzyme selected from the group consisting of cellulase, amylase, protease and lipase. 7. The image removal promoting liquid according to claim 6, wherein the cellulase is an alkaline cellulase.