Mar 23, 2012

Erasable Ink from Printers

Toshiba Tec is developing a revolutionary copier system that can erase printed text from regular copy paper. It is slated to be out the last quarter of this year, 2012.

The printer uses a special erasable toner, and when the printed page is passed through the color erasing device, the printing disappears and the paper can be used again. This toner can only be used with compatible copiers, but any regular copy paper can be used. The initial ink color is blue, but the company is working on other colors.

Here is a LINK to a demo.

"This is a special kind of toner that loses its color when heated, so this technology makes it look as if the printing has disappeared. With this system, one sheet of photocopy paper can be used at least five times, so this product combines economy with ecology."

In addition, the FriXion Ball line of erasable ball-point pens and highlighters from Pilot, are based on the same principals as used in this system.The imprint from the printing process is slightly visible, so recycling sensitive documents is not recommended.