The Manufacturing Process

Making pulp

1 Several processes are commonly used to convert logs to wood pulp. In the mechanical process, logs are first tumbled in drums to remove the bark. The logs are then sent to grinders, which break the wood down into pulp by pressing it between huge revolving slabs. The pulp is filtered to remove foreign objects. In the chemical process, wood chips from de-barked logs are cooked in a chemical solution. This is done in huge vats called digesters. The chips are fed into the digester, and then boiled at high pressure in a solution of

sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. The chips dissolve into pulp in the solution. Next the pulp is sent through filters. Bleach may be added at this stage, or colorings. The pulp is sent to the paper plant.

Beating

2 The pulp is next put through a pounding and squeezing process called, appropriately enough, beating. Inside a large tub, the pulp is subjected to the effect of machine beaters. At this point, various filler materials can be added such as chalks, clays, or chemicals such as titanium oxide. These additives will influence the opacity and other qualities of the final product. Sizings are also added at this point. Sizing affects the way the paper will react with various inks. Without any sizing at all, a paper will be too absorbent for most uses except as a desk blotter. A sizing such as starch makes the paper resistant to water-based ink (inks actually sit on top of a sheet of paper, rather than sinking in). A variety of sizings, generally rosins and gums, is available depending on the eventual use of the paper. Paper that will receive a printed design, such as gift wrapping, requires a particular formula of sizing that will make the paper accept the printing properly.

Pulp to paper

3 In order to finally turn the pulp into paper, the pulp is fed or pumped into giant, automated machines. One common type is called the Fourdrinier machine, which was invented in England in 1807. Pulp is fed into the Fourdrinier machine on a moving belt of fine mesh screening. The pulp is squeezed through a series of rollers, while suction devices below the belt drain off water. If the paper is to receive a water-mark, a device called a dandy moves across the sheet of pulp and presses a design into it. The paper then moves onto the press section of the machine, where it is pressed between rollers of wool felt. The paper then passes over a series of steam-heated cylinders to remove the remaining water. A large machine may have from 40 to 70 drying cylinders.

Finishing

4 Finally, the dried paper is wound onto large reels, where it will be further processed depending on its ultimate use. Paper is smoothed and compacted further by passing through metal rollers called calendars. A particular finish, whether soft and dull or hard and shiny, can be imparted by the calendars. The paper may be further finished by passing through a vat of sizing material. It may also receive a coating, which is either brushed on or rolled on. Coating adds chemicals or pigments to the paper's surface, supplementing the sizings and fillers from earlier in the process. Fine clay is often used as a coating. The paper may next be supercalendered, that is, run through extremely smooth calendar rollers, for a final time. Then the paper is cut to the desired size.

Preparation of the Fibers

During the first step of the paper making process, the material used to make the paper is converted to pulp, which is a concentrated mixture of fibers that are suspended in liquid. Generally, the fibers are those found naturally in softwood trees, hardwood trees, or other plants. The fibers can also come from recycled paper, such as from newsprint, old corrugated boxes, and mixed paper.

When plants are used to make paper, it is usually necessary to use a special chemical process to break down the lignin found inside the cell walls of the plant. Generally, this is done with the Kraft process. If the fibers used to make the paper are recycled, it is not necessary to undergo this process because the lignin has already been removed. If the lignin is not removed from the pulp, the resulting paper will turn yellow when it is exposed to light and air.

There are two ways to break down the pulp used to make paper: mechanically and chemically. When it is broken down mechanically, the resulting pulp is known as "groundwood pulp". This process does not require chemicals, but the lignin is not removed. This results in a relatively high yield of pulp, but the paper does turn yellow as it ages. Therefore, this type of paper is generally used for newspapers and other non-permanent types of paper.

Chemically broken down pulp is called "chemical pulp." The primary reason to break the pulp down in this manner is to remove the lignin by breaking it down and making it soluble. Removing the lignin also helps break down the wood chips to prepare them for the next step in the paper making process.

It is not necessary to pulp recycled fibers in either of these two ways because they have already been treated before. Therefore, a gentler process is utilized.

After the extraction of the fibers, they are dyed or bleached if necessary and any additional ingredients are added to change the appearance of the paper. Products such as Kaolin, for example, are sometimes added to make the paper look glossy for use in items such as magazines.

Sheet Formation

The next step is sheet formation. At this stage in the process, the pulp mixture is diluted some more with water. This is then strained through a moving screen made of fine mesh in order to create a fibrous web. At this time, a watermark may be impressed into the paper if desired. Then, the moving web of pulp is pressed and allowed to dry. Pressure may be applied to help squeeze out the water.

The resulting paper sheet can be removed from the mesh screen mould while it is still wet or it may be removed after it is completely dry in order to undergo additional processing. With most paper, it undergoes the Fourdrinier process in order to form a web of fibers or a reel in a thin sheet. Once try, the sheet can be cut to size.

Drying

The final stage of the paper making process is drying, which is accomplished with time and pressing of the paper. The exact method for drying depends on the overall process used to make the paper.

When pressing is used, the excess water is removed by force. Once forced out, an absorbent material is used to collect the water. Felt, which is not the same as the typical felt used in crafts and other projects, is usually used on paper machines to accomplish this task. When paper is made by hand, a blotter sheet is used to absorb excess water.

Air and heat are also used to remove the water. In the early years, this was accomplished by hanging the paper sheets out like laundry. Today, heated drying mechanisms are usually used, with the most common being the steam-heated can dryer. These dryers are capable of reaching over 200 degree Fahrenheit and can dry paper to less than 6% moisture.

Raw materials for paper Industry... Paper is made of all sort of things you can think of Soft Wood - Like spruce & pine which have a long fibre; one ideal raw material for paper making. Hard Wood - Short Fibre. Difficult in barking and chipping. Eucalyptus, Acacia, Albizzia & Wattle trees are more suitable hard wood trees for paper making and have a very high rate of growth Grasses - Several types of long grasses like bamboo, sabai grass, sarkanda etc. are used for making paper. Straws - In India, rice, wheat straw, bagasse and corn straw are used for paper pulp making. Straw has been reported as suitable for paper making. Cotton Linters - It is a seed hair from cotton plant after extracting cotton. Only a small proportion of raw cotton in form of short fibre linters comes directly to paper mills Cotton Rags - This gives more strength in paper or paper board Linen - Linen fibre is derived from the bast tissue of the stem of the flax plant, cultivated extensively in USA, Russia, Hungary, France, Belgium & Ireland Hemp - It comes to paper maker in the form of spinning waste, twine, cordage, ropes etc. Hemp is the bast tissue of an annual shrub found extensively in India, Russia & America. Manila - This Fibre occurs in the leaves of a plant of the plantain family that grows in the Philippines Islands Sisal Hamp - The fibre comes from the leaves of the plant Agave Sisalana and is used for making rope & twine Waste Paper - The demand of waste paper for manufacturing of paper is increasing every day. Utilization of this would reduce load on demand of fresh fibres. About 80% of the waste paper is used in the manufacture of paper boards. Small scale units depend almost entirely on waste paper as raw material. In India the use of recycled fibre is only 20 percent compared to 40 percent in developed countries.

Chipping... Bamboo or Wood as such cannot be used for pulping. For economical operation of pulping plant as well as for better penetration of cooking liquor, wood logs/bamboo are to be chipped into small pieces (some wood species cannot be chipped directly and needs debarking). The process is called chipping and the equipment used for chipping are called chippers. There are various designs of chippers. During chipping, chips are generated in various sizes. For better operation of the process, only chips of size 5-35 mm are taken. Chips of size less than 5 mm (dust and pin chips are taken to Boiler House for burning as fuel for generating steam). Chips of size more than 35 mm are taken into rechippers and again chipped to an acceptable size.

Pulping... Pulp is obtained by removing lignin and other impurities from the wood & other raw materials through a cooking process (Lignin is the glue that holds the fibres of the wood in their form). The cooking process requires wood, bamboo or other raw material chips. The chips are loaded into a digester and a cooking liquor is added. Then by pressure cooking, the wood, bamboo or other raw material fibres are separated from unwanted ingredients. Either batch digester or continuous digesters are used in cooking. The chips and liquor are mixed as the chips are pumped to the top of the digester. The top section of the digester is pressurized to 160 psi and more. As the chip mass passes downward, the cooking liquor penetrates the chip. After about 45 minutes or more as per raw material the chips have to be passed through the impregnation zone where hot liquor (340 degree F) is circulated through the chips for heating. The actual pulping occurs at 355 degree F in about 90 minutes, a period known as the cooking period. After passing through the cooking zone, the chips (which have not become pulp) are washed with weak liquor through washing stages that follow. Within the chemical process there are two types Sulphate Process "(Alkaline process)" Sulphite Process "(Acid process)" Some hard woods may be dissolved with difficulty by the sulphite process. On the other hand, by the sulphate process most of the chemicals are recovered and reused. Bleaching... Although cellulose fibre is white in colour, due to residual lignin traces remaining on the fibres, the pulp appears creamish. Therefore, to manufacture white paper we need to remove yellowness without physically or chemically damaging the fibre, with improvement in various properties. So the main objectives of bleaching the pulp, can be set out as follows. To increase brightness of the pulp by removal or modification of some of the unwanted elements in the unbleached pulp. These deleterious elements are lignin traces, resins, metal ions, non-cellulosic carbohydrates etc. Bleaching for brightness improvement should also help to keep the pulp stable without turning yellow or lose strength or reduce brilliance - due to aging. To lower viscosity of the pulp for optimum flow, during subsequent operations. Bleaching also should help to reduce the fibre bundles, shives and bark fragments. Bleaching should be done with minimum mechanical action of fibres, while dissolving lignin and other unwanted residuals. Bleaching Pulp is normally done in a step-wise sequence using different chemicals and process conditions at each stage, with washing in between stages. Additives... Additives are added to paper pulp. Addition of fillers like talcum & calcium carbonate is very common & besides acting as fillers they add brightness to the paper. These additives must be finely ground. Additives like dyes & starch are also added. Other fillers are Titanium Dioxide, Barium Sulphate & Zinc Sulphide Removing Water... Removing water is the next important stage. For this the pulp is passed through a rapidly moving wire mesh called fourdriner. The objective is to remove 93% to 95% of the water in the finished paper. As the paper flows along the wire mesh and water is drained along the way, a dandy roller near the end helps to smooth out the paper. The dandy roller improves the formation of the paper web by application of pressure. When the paper reaches the end of the wire mesh it is transferred to a felt blanket which conveys it through many steam heated driers to remove the excess moisture. In the process the paper gets some glaze like coating also. Then it is made to pass through a series of calender stacks. The calenders are series

of polished iron rollers stacked one on top of the other, through which the finished paper will pass to smoothen down. The next step is rewinding on a metal or fibre core. The last stages after this are sheeting, packing & testing.