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WE LOVE PAPER
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Paper - something we use everyday and probably could not
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live without. The process of making paper is actually
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quite fascinating. This raw material is made from wood.
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Pulpwood logs are reduced first into chip form but prior
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to chipping, the logs pass through a special open-ended
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drum that removes the bark. As the logs push through the
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drum, they collide and rub together, which finishes the
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debarking process.
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As the logs move on down, the bark that falls from them
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slips through cylinder walls and is collected and burned
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for fuel that's used in the power boilers. Once the logs
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are cleaned they are sent through the chipper and reduced
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to two-inch pieces, no more than .25 of an inch thick.
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Soft woods such as pine and hardwood like oak is
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separated until it's time for the pulp to be blended in the
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paper machines. Wood is made up of cellulose fibers, this
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substance is called lignin which has the consistency of
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glue that bonds the tree's wood together. When the wood
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goes through the pulp process by being cooked, this is what
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separates the fibers. Special chemicals need to be used
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during the cooking phase.
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The wood chips are then loaded into large vessels called
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digesters, to make things move along faster, the loading
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process is done in one huge load. The machines that cook
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the wood chips look like big kitchen pressure-cookers.
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These pressure-cookers cook the wood chips and chemicals
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together under very intense pressure. What results after
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cooking is a lumpy mixture that looks a bit like oatmeal,
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then water is added to free the fibers.
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Water is added to the pulp, 200 part pulp, to 100 part
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water called furnish. The pulp is then put through a
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forming wire or fabric with a special machine. This machine
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makes one long wet mesh screen that gets circulated to the
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end of the machine were the pulp is interlaced and forms a
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paper mat. Most of the water is removed with this process.
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The pulp is then blown out of the digesters with high
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pressure that separates the fibers. The wood is then washed
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to remove the chemicals. The wood is bleached to the
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desired color and sent through a refiner, this adds texture
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to the paper depending on what kind of paper is being made
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is then formed into a sheet. It is then refined even more
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until the paper has the look and feel of the finished
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project.
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Paper pulp then travels at 3,000 feet per minute, being
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pressed down between fabrics that help absorb additional
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water. Next, the pulp goes through a number of cylinders
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that are steam heated, at which time a starch solution is
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applied. Then, to seal the surface of the paper, sizing is
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used, which wets the paper. To complete the process of
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making paper, the paper must dry and then go through one
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last calendaring process, which basically irons out the
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paper so it is smooth. Again, variations of the process
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exist depending on the type of paper but this is the
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foundation of how paper used for home and business is made.
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Simon Herstings runs the website Dage
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a site totally dedicated to promoting Paper related
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topics and contains details of popular Paper
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have any questions or comments concerning this article
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