PAPER and PULP

BY:- KRISHNA RAJ JOSHI

Department of Chemistry
 Course Content
Introduction
Raw materials,
 Sources of raw materials
Stages in production of paper
 Flow-sheet diagram for paper production
Quality of paper

March 25, 2024 KRJ 2

 Paper and Pulp:-
Paper is a thin sheet material produced mechanically and/or chemically
processing cellulose fibers derived from wood, grasses or other vegetable
sources.
During the production of paper water is drained from the raw materials
through fine mesh(Material made of a network of wire or thread) leaving
the fiber evenly distributed on the surface.
It is then pressed and dried.
Almost all varieties of paper are bade by using bamboo, straw, jute, lokta,
recycled waste paper, cotton, old clothes etc.
Papers are classified as printing papers, wrapping papers, writing papers,
blotting papers, drawing papers, decorative papers, cigarette papers,
toilet papers, tissue papers etc.
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 Contd……
Raw materials:- The raw materials for paper making are pulp, sizing
elements, filler agents and pigments or colouring agents.
 The raw materials may be fibrous like cotton, cellulose etc. and non-fibrous like
Na2S, NaOH, Na2CO3, CaCO3 etc.
Nowadays the most popular material is wood pulp which is a good source of
high quality cellulose fiber. It is a threadlike structure and acts as building block
of the final product.
1. Pulp:- Pulp is a soft, wet, shapeless mass of fibrous material mostly cellulose
obtained from bamboo, wood and sugarcane fiber by mechanical and chemical
method. It is the basic and most important ingredient for papermaking.
 On the basis of its source, pulp is divided into three types:-
i) Wood pulp: -
Wood pulp can be obtained hardwood trees and softwood trees. More than 90%
of the total manufactured paper is made from wood pulp today.
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 Contd……

Wood pulp is obtained by chemically or mechanically reducing wood fiber into a

lignocellulosic fibrous material (Lignocellulosic material is a natural resource from
the stems and roots of trees and woody plants consisting of brittle and fibrous
tissues).
 Newspapers, magazines, toilet papers etc are made from wood pulp.
Softwood coniferous like pine trees are the richest source of wood pulp.
As trees are replantable, wood pulp is environment friendly.
ii) Non-wood pulp:-
Some pulp consists of vegetable fibers with numerous additives to regulate the
physical characteristics, printability, aesthetics of the paper.
High quality papers are produced from higher strength fibers like cotton, linen
etc.
Straw, bamboo, esparto grass are some alternatives to manufacture such fibers.
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 Contd……

iii) Recycled paper pulp:-

It creates about one third of the total raw pulp.
Using deinking process ink is separated from the recycled paper pulp and it is
mixed with fresh pulp to produce different grades of recycled paper.

2. Sizing Elements:- Starch or rosin(A solid form of resin obtained from pines and
some other plants) sizing can be done both internally as well as externally.
 Rosin is used in internal sizing to provide water resistance to the paper.
 Starch is used for surface sizing to control the absorption of printing ink.

3. Fillers Agents:- To increase the paper opacity, smoothness and colour mineral
fillers are used. They improve brightness and whiteness of the paper. They also
provide more pop to the printing paper.
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 Contd……
4. Pigments or Colouring Agents:- Pigments are used to provide different
colours to the paper. For colouring the papers water soluble pigments are
used.

@ Stages in the production of paper

Following stages should be followed for the production of papers:-
1. Preparation of raw material:- It includes debarking of wood, chipping, chip
handling and storage. Chips of proper size are made for chemical pulping
process.
2. Preparation of fiber suspension:-
Fibers are separated by digesting the chips in digester(Pressure cooker) with
steam at a specific temperature.
Chemical pulps are made by digesting the chips using Kraft and sulphite
process.
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 Contd……
Pulps are then mixed with water to make slurry with the help of mechanical
disintegrators and fillers are added to increase brightness, flexibility, opacity,
weight and softness.
Sizing and colouring agents are also mixed.
3. Bleaching:- Bleaching is carried out to remove remaining lignin(a complex
organic polymer deposited in the cell walls of many plants, making them rigid
and woody). For this it is treated with chlorinate bleaching agents like chlorine,
hypochlorite and caustic soda. It is then pumped through a series of screens and
cleaners to remove any dirt or plastics.
3. Formation of paper:- Fiber suspension is converted into paper in three steps
which are
i) Forming a wet web:-
A wet sheet is prepared by running the fiber suspension into a moving belt.
 Water is drained by gravity. The water collected is called white matter which is
reused to recover fiber.
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 Contd……

 The belt also has side-wise motion to give better inner locking to the fiber mat.

ii) Pressing the wet sheet:- The wet paper sheet contains about 80% water. It is
passed to felt roll to press by which water is removed with mild pressure.
Amount of water is reduced to 60-65%.

iii) Drying the sheet:-

The sheet obtained after pressing is strong enough to carry its weight.
It is then passed through smoothing rolls and then steam heated metal
cylinders where heat and moisture are removed.
Paper obtained from last drying roll contains 5-6% water which is then passed
through pressure rolls to produce smooth well finished paper.
It is then wound in rolls, cut, coated and packaged.
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 Contd……
Trees

Debarking
Electricity Mechanical Water
Logs Chipping Chemical
Steam pulping pulping Chemicals
Electricity

Water Screening and

Cleaning Washing Water
Bleaching

Pulp
Electricity Refine Water

Refined Stock Dispersion

pulp Preparation and Forming Pressing Drying
Flowsheet diagram for paper production

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  Quality of Paper:-
 Various kinds of paper are required for different purposes.
The main qualities of paper include
1. Weight:- It is expressed in terms of grams per square meter(gsm). The wt. of
paper may vary due to their different uses. For example:- 75-90gsm papers are
used for making notebooks, sketchpads, photocopy papers etc. 90-100gsm
papers are used for printing etc.

2. Appearance:- Appearance of paper determines its quality. Brightness,

whiteness and shade are the main factors for appearance. More is the
brightness and whiteness good is the quality of paper.

3. Surface:- The surface of paper may be smooth of rough. They may be coated or
uncoated. Uncoated papers are rougher and the images printed are softer.
Coated
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papers are coated with surface
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sealants so they are smoother. 11
 Contd……
4. Opacity:- It is the ability of paper to mask the ink to the other side. A paper of high
opacity is of good quality as writing can be done on both side.

5. Strength:- On the basis of their application, different strengths of papers are used and
the strength is measured in terms of tearing strength, tensile strength, elongation,
folding, stiffness etc.

6. Handmade or machine made:- The process and materials used give certain qualities to
paper. Handmade paper like Nepali kaagaj has rough edges and has rich texture which
makes it better for writing, drawing, printing etc. It is stronger than machine made
papers.

7. Longevity(Long life):- It depends upon the composition of the paper. The longer the
cellulose chain, greater is the strength of paper and durability of the paper. It also
depends on the storage. If paper comes in contact of moisture, acids etc then its life
shortens.
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