PAPER AND PULP INDUSTRY

INTRODUCTION

Pulp and paper mills are highly complex and integrate many different
process areas including wood preparation, pulping, bleaching, and
papermaking to convert wood to the final product.

Processing options and the type of wood processed are often

determined by the final product.

The pulp for papermaking may be produced from virgin fibre by

chemical or mechanical means or may be produced by the repulping
of paper for recycling.

Wood is the main original raw material. Paper for recycling accounts
for about 50 % of the fibres used – but in a few cases straw, hemp,
grass, cotton and other cellulose-bearing material can be used.

Paper production is basically a two-step process in which a fibrous

raw material is first converted into pulp, and then the pulp is
converted into paper.

Pulp making can be done mechanically or chemically. The pulp is then

bleached and further processed, depending on the type and grade of
paper that is to be produced. In the paper factory, the pulp is dried
and pressed to produce paper sheets. 
WHERE DOES THE PAPER PULP COME FROM?

• Forestry Products
Most paper is made from forestry products, usually trees. The most
common of trees that paper comes from are:
Spruce, Pine, Fir, Larch, Hemlock, Eucalyptus, Aspen, Birch
In most cases, the best parts of these trees are used for construction,
and less desirable portions are used in pulp.

•Cotton & Other Natural Fibers

Natural fibers such as cotton are used in some cases because its
fibers are very strong. This makes it an excellent choice for
documents that may need to be archived. This strength, combined
with its unique feel is why cotton paper is popular for letterhead and
other corporate stationary products.

•Recycled Fibers
Many papers include different types of recycled content. These
include:
1. Pre Consumer Waste (paper waste from the paper manufacturing
and printing processes)
2. Post Consumer Waste (paper waste that has already touched a
consumer, like a recycled newspaper)
3. Sawdust
HOW IS PULP MADE ?

Although many fibers were mentioned above,

forestry products (logs from trees) are the
source of most fiber in paper pulp. There are
three main components, which must all be
separated to make pulp.
•Bark
•Fiber
•Lignin

The bark protects the fibers of the log, which

are held together by lignin. The goal is to
extract the fibers, and this is accomplished
either using a chemical or mechanical process.
WHAT IS MECHANICAL PULP?

Since most paper starts as logs, there is a significant amount of

bark. Bark does not work well for making paper, so the first step in
the mechanical pulping process is to remove the bark from the
logs. This excess material becomes a biomass energy source to help
power the paper mill.

In most processes, the logs are ground up using a giant machine

containing a rotating disk and a fixed steel plate. Due to the "brute
force" nature of mechanical pulping, both whole and partial fibers
are created. In addition, the lignin is not removed from the paper.
This gives the paper a grey-yellow color.

The mechanical pulping process uses significantly more energy

than is produced by the biomass power generated by the bark. The
benefit however, is there is very little waste as nearly 95% of the
raw material is able to be converted to pulp.

Papers made from mechanical pulps are also known as

"groundwood fiber papers" and are typically very cost effective. An
example of this type of paper is newsprint.
WHAT IS CHEMICAL PULP?

Like mechanical pulp, the process begins with whole logs. These logs
are cut into small chunks of wood that are about 1/2" to 1" long, and
1/4" to 1/2" thick. This is done with a large scale version of the the
wood chippers that landscaping companies use.

The wood chips are placed into a giant machine that combines them
with really hot water and chemicals. This helps remove air pockets so
that the chips will break down into fibers more easily. Next, the wood
chip and chemical mixture is moved into a pressure cooker. The wood
chips spend about two hours at nearly 350 degrees farenheit. The
combination of steam, chemicals, and pressure causes the chips to
desintegrate. This leaves wood fibers, and a liquid called "black liquor.“

In the next step, the black liquor is removed. The remaining fiber is
cleaned in a variety of ways and sometimes bleached to ensure purity.
The majority of the waste in the process is black liquor - but these
facilities typically operate in a "closed loop" system. The inorganics
(chemicals) are recovered and re-used for the next batch of paper,
while the remainder of the liquid (natural biomass) is converted to
energy to operate the plant. In most cases, these more power is
generated than is needed, so this creates an environmentally friendly
power source for local communities.

Papers made from chemical pulp are usually brighter, smoother, and
higher quality than their mechanically pulped counterparts.
HOW DOES A PAPER MAKING MACHINE WORK ?

Paper machines are comprised of 4 primary sections. These are:

Wet End
Pulp is mixed with water as well as additional fillers and additives and then pumped onto a belt. This belt is
typically made of a mesh that encourages all of the fibers to go in one direction. Much like wood, paper has a
grain direction. The orientation of the fibers on this belt dictates the "grain direction" of the paper. This
section of the paper making machine has at least one roller to push the fibers onto the belt to help make
sure that the paper grain goes in the right direction.

Wet Press Section

In the "Wet Press Section," the pulp moves off of the mesh belt onto a felt belt. While the felt used to be
made of wool, these days synthetics are more normal. The pulp moves through a series of high pressure
rollers designed to push the liquid into the felt. As the felt rotates, it will go through its own drying station to
remove moisture.

Dryer Section
Once the pulp enters the "Dryer Section," it has started to take the shape of paper. This part of the machine
weaves the web of paper through a series of heated rollers. Felt belts are also used in this part of the
machine to give the moisture in the paper somewhere to go.

Calender Section
The last part of the machine is called the "Calendar Section." It uses rollers mounted opposite of each other
to put pressure on the paper and create a smooth finish. The more of these rollers there are, the smoother
the paper will be.
HOW IS PAPER MADE ?
Paper is made through the following
processes:

1. Pulping procedure will be done to separate

and clean the fibers

2. Refining procedure will be followed after

pulping processes

3. Dilution process to form a thin fiber mixture

4. Formation of fibers on a thin screen

5. Pressurization to enhance the materials

density

6. Drying to eliminate the density of materials

7. Finishing procedure to provide a suitable

surface for usage
STEPS INVOLVED IN THE PULP AND
PAPERMAKING PROCEDURE:

PREPARATION OF RAW MATERIAL

Wood that has been received at a pulp mill can be in

different forms. It depends on the pulping process
and the origin of the raw material. It may be received
as bolts (short logs) of round-wood with the bark still
attached, as chips about the size of a half-dollar that
may have been produced from sawmill from
debarked round wood elsewhere.
If round wood is used, it is first debarked, usually by
tumbling in large steel drums where wash water may
be applied. Those debarked wood bolts are then
chipped in a chipper if the pulping process calls for
chemical digestion. Chips are then screened for size,
cleaned, and temporarily stored for further
processing.
SEPARATION OF FIBER

In the fiber separation stage, several pulping technologies will be

diverged. The chips are kept into a large pressure cooker (digester),
into which is added the appropriate chemicals in kraft chemical
pulping.

The chips are then digested with steam at specific temperatures to

separate the fibers and partially dissolve the lignin and other
extractives. Some digesters operate continuously with a constant
feed of chips (furnish) and liquor are charged intermittently and treat
a batch at a time.

After the digestion process, the cooked pulp is discharged into a

pressure vessel. Here the steam and volatile materials are tubed off.
After that, this cooked pulp is returned to the chemical recovery
cycle.  Fiber separation in mechanical pulping is less dramatic.
Debarked logs are forced against rotating stone grinding wheels in
the stone ground-wood procedure. Refiner pulp and thermo-
mechanical pulp are produced by chips. These chips are ground by
passing them through rapidly rotating in both processes.
In the second stage after refining, the pulp is screened, cleaned, and
most of the process water is removed in preparation for paper
making.
BLEACHING PROCESS

Raw pulp contains an appreciable amount of lignin and other

discoloration, it must be bleached to produce light colored or
white papers preferred for many products. The fibers are
further delignified by solubilizing additional lignin from the
cellulose through chlorination and oxidation. These include
chlorine dioxide, chlorine gas, sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen
perioxide, and oxygen.

Sodium Hydroxide, a strong alkali is used to extract the

dissolved lignin from fibers surface. The bleaching agents and
the sequence in which they are used depend on a number of
factors, such as the relative cost of the bleaching chemicals,
type and condition of the pulp.

Mechanical pulp bleaching varies from chemical pulp bleaching.

Bleaching of mechanical pulp is designed to minimize the
removal of the lignin that would reduce fiber yields.
Chemicals used for bleaching mechanical pulps selectively
destroy coloring impurities but leave the lignin and cellulosic
materials intact, These include sodium bisulfite, sodium or zinc
hydrosulfite (no longer used in the United States), calcium or
sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen or sodium peroxide, and the
Sulfur Dioxide-Borol Process (a variation of the sodium
hydrosulfite method).
PAPERMAKING PROCEDURE

Bleached or unbleached pulp may be further refined

to cut the fibers and roughen the surface of the
fibers to enhance formation and bonding of the
fibers as they enter the paper machine.
Water is added to the pulp slurry to make a thin
mixture normally containing less than 1 percent fiber.
The dilute slurry is then cleaned in cyclone cleaners
and screened in centrifugal screens before being fed
into the ‘wet end’ of the paper-forming machine. The
dilute stock passes through a head-box that
distributes the fiber slurry uniformly over the width
of the paper sheet to be formed.
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