Indian Architect Invents a Deprinter

According to The Times of India, architect Swarnashil Moon has designed a deprinter.

As was revealed by Moon, he noticed the huge amount of stationery wasted in offices and then studied the properties of chemicals and dyes used in printers as part of his post-graduation project. Moon surveyed 10 offices, including those of “professionals like engineers, doctors, accountants, lawyers and architects as well as government offices.” He discovered that there was a lack of time to make justifiable use of paper by any available means.

Moon explained, “There were several failed attempts to begin with, including the use of wax to wipe the writing off the paper, and ink that would fade over a matter of hours. But these could not be used in all situations as some paperwork needed to be stored as well.”

In the process designed by Moon, chemical solvents—like nitrobenzene, naphtha (mineral spirits) and petrol (gasoline)—are used in a device shaped like a printer to remove the toned image. The device is fed printed papers which it brushes with the chemical solvent. In the next step, some images can be removed with nitrobenzene while printing inks can be removed by naphtha or gasoline. A laser beam is then scanned across the deprinted paper. The cleaned paper can be used multiple times depending on its thickness.