Recovery and Reuse of Color Developing Agents

Charleton C. Bard

Recovery and reuse of color developer overflows is commonly done by one of three methods: (1) reconstitution, (2) ion exchange, and (3) electrodialysis. An alternative to reusing all or part of the overflow by application of one of these methods is to recover and reuse only the color developing agent. This paper describes three methods to reclaim the color developing agent: (1) precipitation, (2) extraction, and (3) dialysis. The precipitation method is based on salting out. The extraction procedure involves two alternatives: liquid-liquid and liquid-solid. Dialysis is not discussed at length in this paper. Of these methods, one of the most promising is liquid-solid extraction. The recovery and reuse of Kodak color developing agent CD-2 from the Eastman color print developer by liquid-solid extraction is described. Only laboratory (small-scale) tests have been made so far of any of these reclamation methods. A brief discussion of costs is made.

Print ISSN
Published
1980-04
Content type
Original Research
DOI
10.5594/J00500