Information on

raw materials and paper-making

Paper
making
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water
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White water White wa
To effluent treatment system
Fibre
recovery
from white
water
Stock
blending
stock
preparation
system
Centrifugal
screen
Mechanical and/or chemical pulp, and/or
recovered paper, and/or additives and water
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Headbox
Wire section 2
2 Wire section
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T H E P R O D U C T I O N
O F P A P E R
Paper machi ne
The combined use of a number of special
machines is required for the production of
paper. The exact construction and combination
of the different machines depends on the type
of product generated by the process (paper or
board), as well as the type of fibre used. There
is no such thing as a standard paper mill.
However, the stages in the paper-making
process can be divided into four main areas:
stock preparation; papermaking; coating and
laminating; and finishing.
S T O C K P R E P A R A T I O N
Recovered paper is delivered to the paper mill
in dry form, as is chemical pulp as a general
rule. Wood pulp, which is usually produced in
the same plant, is pumped to the stock
preparation section in the form of a fibre/
water slurry. Recovered paper is firstly pre-
treated and then water is added to it in suffi-
cient quantities to ensure that by the time it
reaches the stock preparation section it has
been fully dissolved. Chemical pulp fibre is
converted into pumpable form in the pulper
by the addition of water. The bundles of
fibres in this fibre/water slurry are then bro-
ken down into single fibres. The mixture then
enters the multiple-stage purification process.
After being dissolved, the chemical pulp fibre
is mechanically treated in a
refiner in order to add
strength and improve its
sheet-forming properties.
The mixing of different fibres
takes place in the stock
preparation section. Here,
filling agents and helping
agents are added to the mix-
ture to improve the quality
of the paper and raise pro-
ductivity levels. The most
important filling agents are
clay (aluminium silicate or kaolin) and chalk.
These natural minerals are simply ground and
cleaned before they are added to the mixture.
P A P E R - MA K I N G
The machines used for the manufacture of
paper are technically highly sophisticated.
The biggest of these machines are up to ten
metres wide and up to 120
metres in length. Despite
variations in their construc-
tion, all of these paper-mak-
ing machines consist of the
same basic elements: head-
box; wire section; press sec-
tion; dryer section; and reel.
The actual design of these
elements depends on the
type of paper being made.
The speeds of the individual
machines also vary signifi-
The paper sheets are melded
together.
Headbox with
Wire Section
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5
ater
Press
water
Dryer section
Reel up
Machine calender
Pope roller
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Dryer section Machine calender 3 4 5 Press section
Press section 3
4
Drying Cylinders
cantly: however, up to 1,400 metres of paper
per minute can be produced.
HE ADB OX AND WI R E S E CT I ONS
The function of the headbox is to evenly
spread the highly diluted fibre mixture over
the entire breadth of the paper-making
machine. With a Fourdrinier type of machine,
the mixture runs through a slit onto a flat,
constantly revolving wire mesh or sieve (the
wire section). The fibres deposit themselves
next to and on top of one another on the
wire. At the same time, the water runs
through the wire or is sucked off from below.
It is in this way that a sheet of paper is
formed. However, at the end of the filtering
process, the paper sheet (web) still contains
80% water.
P R E S S A N D D R Y E R S E C T I O N S
The relatively fragile paper web is further
drained using mechanical pressure in the
press section. The web is guided by means of
a highly absorbent, continuous felt cloth
between rollers of steel, granite or hard rub-
ber. The paper web then proceeds to the
dryer section. The dryer section of the paper
machine consists of up to 100 steam-heated
drying cylinders. The strengthened paper
web is at first guided over the cylinders with
help from felt sheets but later threads itself
over the cylinders. Additional machine fittings
can be used in the dryer section to add spe-
cial properties to the paper. An example of
such a fitting is the size press (consisting of
two smooth rollers), with which a durable
solution of either starch or a synthetic-based
material is applied to the pre-dried paper
web. In this way for instance, the surface
strength (tearing strength) of the paper can
be increased. Some paper machines have an
extra smoothing process called a Calender,
which is added to the dryer section. The Cal-
ender consists of several rollers arranged ver-
tically one upon the other. By running the
almost dry paper web between the rollers
under high pressure, the paper is compacted
and smoothed.
R E E L
Finally, the finished paper web is wound up
on to a steel shaft (reel). The paper now con-
tains only five to eight percent water (which
is normal moisture content). The paper stays
on the shaft until finishing or possible coat-
ing. Depending on the type of paper, such a
shaft can hold up to 25 tonnes a sheet of
paper about 60 kilometres in length.
C O A T I N G
Unwind
Infra-red
drying
Hot air drying
Reel up
Drying
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Coating Calender
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Coating application
Reel up
Unwind
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Off -machi ne coat er
Super cal ender
Coating the paper Coating Machine
Supercalender
C O A T I N G
The differing requirements of both the indus-
tries which further process the paper and the
end-user, demand that some of the raw
paper will have its surface further improved.
One important method of surface improve-
ment is coating. During this process, the raw
paper is coated with a coloured substance
consisting of pigments and binders. A sealed
paper surface is achieved through coating. A
further smoothing of the paper surface is
achieved with the help of another calender
(called the Supercalender). In this process,
the paper runs between several rollers of
varying hardness and material. This ironing
effect gives the paper its smoothness and
gloss. Another form of surface improvement
can be achieved by coating the paper with,
for instance, a synthetic material (plastic), to
make it water or aroma proof.
F I N I S H I N G
Paper
in reels
Sheets of
paper
F I N I S H I N G
Normally, paper is not used in the full width
or length in which it leaves the paper-making
machine or the coater. In the finishing
process, the rolls of paper are cut into small-
er rolls by a reel cutter. Paper needed for
quality printing is cut by a cross-cutter into
format-cut sheets. With the so-called sim-
plex cross-cutter, several paper webs con-
veyed from different rolls can be cut simulta-
neously to a uniform format. These - usually
counted sheets are placed in piles on
palettes and packaged; the paper is partially
packaged in reams of 100, 250 or 500
sheets.
Q U A L I T Y C O N T R O L
Testing, measuring, regulating and control-
ling, supported by computers, are today
indispensable for any industrial production.
Paper mills are also stocked with numerous
measuring gauges and regulating equip-
ment, which check and guarantee the uni-
form quality of the paper. Much of this
equipment works as part of the production
process assisting process control. With their
help, the important paper qualities (such as
paper weight (basis weight) and moisture
content) are directly recorded during produc-
tion of the paper by the paper-making
machine. Deviations from predefined values
are to an extent automatically regulated dur-
ing pre-production. In addition to these pro-
duction controls, laboratory tests are carried
out on samples that are taken during the dif-
ferent steps of the production process.
Sheet cut t er
Reel cut t er
Reel cutter
Sheet cutter
The most important base
raw material for the pulp
and paper industry is
wood. Because of its long
fibres, coniferous wood
(e.g. spruce, fir, pine) is
preferred, but the short-fibred deciduous
wood (e.g. birch, beech, poplar) is also used
in certain cases.
About half of the wood used in the paper
industry comes from forest thinning opera-
tions. Through the removal of immature
trees, the pulp and paper industry makes an
important contribution to the preservation of
the forests. By-products from the cutting of
wood (e.g. wood chips), which are predomi-
nantly obtained by the cutting of stronger
types of wood in the sawmill industry, are
also used in the manufacture of chemical and
mechanical pulp. These products have
become very significant to the manufacture
of pulp in the last few years. Fibre, helping
agents and water are the materials needed
for the manufacture of paper and board.
Worldwide, 95 % of pulp is obtained from
wood and only a very small proportion from
annual plants: for example, from bargasse
(the residue from the cutting of sugarcane);
from bamboo or from straw. Coniferous
wood is best suited to the pulp extraction
process as it can not only produce chemical
pulp through chemical processes, but it is also
excellently suited to the production of
mechanical pulp through mechanical process-
es. Recovered paper has been collected and
re-used for the manufacture of paper for a
very long time. By comparison, the use of
rags or cotton and linen waste from the tex-
tile industry is now insignificant. These mate-
rials are only used for certain special grades of
paper because of their limited availability and
price.
Paper-Making Fibre
ME C H A N I C A L
P U L P
Mechanical pulp is pro-
duced by two different
methods: the traditional process of grinding the
wood on a grinding stone, and the more mod-
ern process of refining. In the wood grinding
process, debarked logs of about one metre in
length are pressed against the surface of a rotat-
ing grinding stone while hot water is added. The
rough stone surface breaks the wood down into
both intact fibres of one to four millimetres in
length and also fibre fragments and fine fibre
particles. The balanced ratio between short and
long fibres determines the quality of the pulp.
After the grinding process, the pulp is screened,
refined and thickened. When the use of the
paper which is being made requires it, the pulp
is also bleached on its way to the paper-making
machine. The base raw material for the refining
process are wood chips. In recent years, the
Groundwood logs
Log feed chamber
Feed chains
Grinding stone
Fibre chest
to stock
preparation
Screening
Refining
Thickening
Bleaching
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Screening
Refining
Thickening
Bleaching
steam
water
to stock
preparation
Wood chips
Chip silo with pre-steaming
Refiner
Counter-rotating
refiner discs
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Mechani cal pul p pr oduct i on
( st one gr oundwood)
Ther mo-mechani cal pul p ( TMP)
pr oduct i on
R AW MAT E R I A L S A N D T H E I R P R OC E S S I N G
refining process has been further developed to
the thermo-mechanical refining process (TMP
process). This allows the wood to be broken
down in a more gentle way, which guarantees
that a higher proportion of individual fibres will
remain intact. In the TMP process, the lignin
between the fibres is softened through pre-
steaming at about 130 c. After that, counter-
rotating refiner discs break the wood chips
down into single fibres as water is added.
Chemo-thermo-mechanical pulp (CTMP) is
manufactured using chemicals which reduce the
content of lignin within the fibres. Because of its
coarser structure, the thermo-mechanical wood
pulp is not used as widely as the pulp made by
the traditional grinding process. A significant
advantage of mechanical pulp is its very high
yield. Depending on the grinding process,
9095 kg of dry mechanical pulp is produced
from 100 kg of dry wood material.
C H E MI C A L P U L P
A higher quality pulp,
chemical pulp, is produced
when materials that are
disadvantageous in paper
are removed from the
wood. The most important of these materials
are lignin and resins. Depending on the
method used and the manufacturing condi-
tions, around 50 kg of chemical pulp is pro-
duced from 100 kg of dry wood material. In
the manufacture of chemical pulp, the wood
is first of all broken down into small chips and
is then cooked with water and chemicals. The
main objective of this process is the removal
of the lignin and the gentler breaking down
of the wood into single fibres. The fibre is
then screened, cleaned and thickened.
Depending on the proposed use of the paper,
bleaching may also be necessary. Chemical
pulp contains a greater proportion of fibres in
their natural lengths than mechanical pulp
and one of its main advantages is its high
strength. In addition, the chemical pulp fibres
are very flexible and hardly discolour. While
predominantly sprucewood is used for the
production of mechanical pulp, both conifer-
ous (softwood) and deciduous (hardwood)
woods are suitable for the production of
chemical pulp. In addition, chemical pulp is
also made from annual plants (e.g. from
straw, sugar cane and alfagrass). In addition
to chemical pulp, semi-chemical pulp (in
which a higher proportion of lignin remains in
the pulp) is also produced. As well as chemi-
cal pulp and semi-chemical pulp for the pro-
duction of paper, the pulp industry also
manufactures further pulp types, such as
high-grade chemical or synthetic fibres (dis-
solving pulps) for the manufacture of cello-
phane and textiles, or for use as raw materi-
als in the chemical industry.
to stock
preparation
Digester
Logs and
sawmill
by-products
Chips
Drying
(for pulp
to be sold)
Blow tank
Refining
Screening
Bleaching
Cleaning
Thickening
Chipper
Chemi cal pul p
pr oduct i on
Recover ed Paper
pr epar at i on
R E C O V E R E D
P A P E R
Recovered paper is collec-
ted in numerous grades and
used for many paper types.
As a common practice, the
recovered paper processing plants in the
paper industry operate according to the fol-
lowing principles: The recovered paper is
firstly dissolved and reduced to fibres. This is
done in the pulper. This machine works like
an over-sized kitchen mixer. The pulper is also
fitted with specific fittings for the removal of
contaminants from the mixture. The recov-
ered paper slurry is then run through wire
mesh and treated in the screening units. In
addition to recovered paper processing facili-
ties, many paper mills have at their disposal
so-called de-inking facilities, which aid in
the removal of ink to a high extent. Recov-
ered paper obtained in uniform quality and in
large quantity is the best-suited for process-
ing in the de-inking plant.
The steps in the de-inking process are as follows:
1. The dissolving of the paper (the chemicals
which are used to remove the ink begin to
work at this stage);
2. The removal of contaminants; and
3. The removal of inks.
The modern techniques used in the process
make it possible for the paper industry to
remove almost all of the contaminants from
the paper. However, this requires a lot of
work and costs. Admittedly, the fibres do lose
quality through the processing and de-inking
process here the limits of repeated recycling
of paper fibres become obvious. The German
paper industry has achieved a high standard
in both the quality and amount of paper pro-
duced from recovered paper. The German
paper industry is a world leader in the collec-
tion and re-use of recovered paper. Most
recovered paper accumulates in printing
plants, paper processing concerns, depart-
ment stores and self-service stores. In prac-
tice, however, it is specifically the high quali-
ty recovered paper which is lacking but which
could be used on a larger scale.
to stock
preparation
Dissolving
(pulping)
Dissolving (pulping)
Fibre treatment by:
De-inking (removal
of printing inks) or
Fractionating, or
Hot defibering
Cleaning
Cleaning
Refining
Contaminants
Recovered Paper
Removal of printing inks (de-inking) through
flotation
De-inking
foam
Air
Fibre
Printing ink
particle
Verband Deutscher Papierfabriken
Adenauerallee 55
D-53113 Bonn
Phone +49 228 26705-0
Fax +49 228 26705-62
E-mail vdp@vdp-online.de
Web www.vdp-online.de
German Pulp and Paper Association
Pulper