1.

2 Industrial profile:

History of paper industries:

Paper is the thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon or packing. It is
produced by the amalgamation of fibers, typically vegetables fibers composed of cellulose,
which are subsequently held together by hydrogen bonding. While the fibers are usually natural
in origin, a wide variety of synthetic fibers, such as polypropylene and polyethylene, may be
incorporated paper into as a way of imparting desirable physical properties. The most common
source of these kinds of fibers is wood pulp from pulpwood trees. Vegetable fiber materials such

as cotton, hemp, linen and rice are also used.

Paper industry in America:

In 1690 the fist paper mill in the American colonies was constructed in Germantown,
Pennsylvania. It was built on the banks of the Monoshone Creek by William Rittenhouse, a
papermaker trained in Germany and one of the first Germans to settle in the New World. His
ambition was to make fine white paper from the raw material of rags. During the American
Revolution (1775–1783) the Rittenhouse mill donated paper for pamphlets and newspapers.
Paper was also used to make gun wadding and cartridges used in the war.

Paper mills sprang up to meet the demands of a growing market. New mills thrived that
were near cities and towns and that had a plentiful supply of rags for the basic raw material. A
new job title emerged for those seeking employment in the paper industry. For lack of any more
sophisticated name, the word "ragpicker" was coined for those that scurried around the cities
collecting rags for the papermakers. There were approximately 185 paper mills in the United
States by 1810. The supply of rags used to make paper was running low and papermakers began
looking for alternative materials. On January 14, 1863, the Boston Weekly Journal became the
first U.S. newspaper to be printed on paper made from ground wood pulp.

As the United States grew in size so did the paper industry. Technology kept up with the
need for faster production. The first practical machine for papermaking was invented in 1798 by
Frenchman Nicholas Louis Robert. An improved machine constructed by British brothers Henry
and Sealy Fourdrinier appeared in 1803. The first machine that produced paper in a continuous
sheet was installed by Thomas Gilpin in Wilmington, Delaware in 1817. Straw and wood were
being used as raw materials and machine speeds were greatly increasing. Paper was now being
made in longer and wider dimensions.

By the late 1990s the United States and Canada were the largest producers of pulp, paper,
and paper products in the world. The U.S. paper industry was accountable for approximately
one percent of the U.S. national income. In the 1990s the United States employed 750,000
workers in the paper industry alone.

Paper industry in India:

Paper industry in India is the 15th largest paper industry in the world. It provides
employment to nearly 1.5 million people and contributes Rs 25 billion to the government's kitty.
The government regards the paper industry as one of the 35 high priority industries of the
country.
Paper industry is primarily dependent upon forest-based raw materials. The first paper
mill in India was set up at Sreerampur, West Bengal, in the year 1812. It was based on grasses
and jute as raw material. Large scale mechanized technology of papermaking was introduced in
India in early 1905. Since then the raw material for the paper industry underwent a number of
changes and over a period of time, besides wood and bamboo, other non-conventional raw
materials have been developed for use in the papermaking. The Indian pulp and paper industry
at present is very well developed and established. Now, the paper industry is categorized as
forest-based, agro-based and others (waste paper, secondary fibre, bast fibers and market pulp).

In 1951, there were 17 paper mills, and today there are about 515 units engaged in the
manufacture of paper and paperboards and newsprint in India. The pulp & paper industries in
India have been categorized into large-scale and small-scale. Those paper industries, which
have capacity above 24,000 tones per annum are designated as large-scale paper industries.
India is self-sufficient in manufacture of most varieties of paper and paperboards. Import is
confined only to certain specialty papers. To meet part of its raw material needs the industry
has to rely on imported wood pulp and waste paper.
 Indian paper industry has been de-licensed under the Industries (Development &
Regulation) Act, 1951 with effect from 17th July, 1997. The interested entrepreneurs are now
required to file an Industrial Entrepreneurs' Memorandum (IEM) with the Secretariat for
Industrial Assistance (SIA) for setting up a new paper unit or substantial expansion of the
existing unit in permissible locations. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100% is allowed
on automatic route on all activities except those requiring industrial licenses where prior
governmental approval is required.

Growth of paper industry in India has been constrained due to high cost of production
caused by inadequate availability and high cost of raw materials, power cost and concentration
of mills in one particular area. Government has taken several policy measures to remove the
bottlenecks of availability of raw materials and infrastructure development. For example, to
overcome short supply of raw materials, duty on pulp and waste paper and wood logs/chips has
been reduced.

Applications:
To write or print on:
The piece of paper becomes a document; this may be for keeping a record (or in the case
of printing from a computer or copying from another paper, an additional record) and for
communication; see also reading.
Paper can be produced with wide variety of properties, depending on its intended use.
To represent a value:
Paper money, bank note, cheque, and ticket.
For entertainment:
Book, magazine, news paper, art, zine.
For packaging:
Corrugated box, paper bag, envelope, wrapping tissue, and wallpaper.
For cleaning:
Toilet paper, handkerchiefs, paper towels, facial tissue and cat litter.
For construction:
Papier-mâché, origami, quilling, paper honeycomb, used as a core material in composite
materials, paper engineering, construction paper and clothing.
Other uses:
Emery paper, sandpaper, blotting paper, litmus paper, universal indicator paper, paper
chromatography and Capacitor Dielectrics.

The future of paper:

Some manufacturers are started using a new, significantly more environmentally

friendly alternative to expanded plastic packing made out of paper, known commercially as
paperfoam. The packing has very similar mechanical properties to some expanded plastic
packing, but is biodegradable and can also be recycled with ordinary paper.

Besides paperfoam, paper made from rocks rather than trees is also emerging as a more
ecological alternative to regular paper made from trees or other alternatives as paperfoam.
This rock paper is available from companies as ViaStone and John Su.

Also, synthetics such as Tyvek and Teslin have been introduced as printing media as a
more durable material than paper.