PULP AND PAPER

INDUSTRIES
CHE 432
INDUSTRIAL PROCESS

Introduction
Cellulose:
substance used to make paper products
in the pulp and paper industries
most abundant organic substance
available
Major component of woody plants
Papermaking consumes many chemicals
and utilize huge energy consumption

History Of Paper Making

1st appeared between 2500 and 2000 B.C, made
from tall reed called papyrus
Chinese invented paper from bamboo and
cotton
Europeans make paper from cotton and linen
rags
Watt & Burgess (1851): Soda process for
making pulp from wood
Tilghman (1857): Sulphite process produced
good, readily bleachable pulp
Dahl (1884): Kraft process or Sulfate process

Pulp manufacture
Cellulose fibers freed from matrix of lignin
which cements them together
Fibers separated by mechanical procedures
or solution of lignin
Pulp formed has fibers recemented together
to form paper when suitable additives used
Pulping made from mechanical or
thermomechanical means less inferior in
quality compared to produced chemically

Raw materials
Wood fibers displaced cotton and linen rags
Both hard (deciduous) and soft (coniferous)
wood used but softwood preferred because
longer fibers
Bark cannot be used because not fibrous
and difficult to bleach
Bark removed by debarking methods

Pulping processes
Objective to release fibrous cellulose from its
surrounding lignin while keeping the hemicelluloses and
celluloses intact
Fibers obtained naturally colored & must be bleached
before used to obtain good color without degradation and
yield loss
Many processes and variations of basic processes to
make pulp from wood
Some work better on softwood than hardwood, some give
high-yield lower quality papers, some give low-yield
superior papers
Major processes are sulfate or kraft process, groundwood
and thermomechanical process, semichemical process,
and sulfite process

Kraft/Sulfate pulping
Alkaline process by which most pulp is made
Material added to cooking liquor is Na2SO4
Cooking done with solution: Na2S, NaOH and
Na2CO3
Chemicals can be recycled and regenerated,
reducing or even eliminating stream pollution
Odoriferous materials released drg cooking are
strong air polluters and diff. to control
Drg. Last 10 yrs, employ continuous digesters
although large batch units still being built

 Batch units offer good control, but

continuous units require less investment
for a given capacity and pollution control
installation simpler and smaller
Cooking
process
causes
chemical
reactions
involving
hydrolysis
and
solubilization of lignin, freeing cellulose
fibers
Hydrolysis frees mercaptans and organic
sulfides source of foul odor associated
with kraft mills

Sequence of sulfate pulp manufacture

Logs cut to convenient lengths & debarked,
conveyed to chippers
Chippers reduce wood to chips of preselected size
Chips screened to separate oversize chips, desired
product and sawdust
Oversized chips recycled to reduce to proper size
Chips enter continuous digester, presteamed @ 100
kPa, pass thru HP zone @ 900 kPA, temperature
adjusted and mix with cooking liquor
Cooking time - 1 hrs @ 170oC
Cold cooking liquor quickly stops cooking reaction

 Brown stock : chips produced together with

adhering liquor
Pulp washing : operation to reduce water usage
and reclaim process
Black liquor - spent cooking liquor treated to
recover chemical content for reuse and organic
content as heat
Washed pulp passed over screens to remove
knots, unreacted chips, slivers trash, etc and
sent to thickeners and filters
Thickened pulp is bleached usg. Chlorine and
hypochlorite
Then pulp washed and rethickened for making
coarse sheets dry enough to fold into bundle,
store and ship or used directly for making paper

Manufacture of paper
Wet process
- Pulp stock for formation into paper by 2 general
processes : beating and refining
- No sharp distinction between these two operations
- Mills use either one or the other alone or both
together
- Beater decreasing importance with increasing use of
continuous refining
- Typical beater (also called Hollander, Fig. 33.3)
consists of wooden or metal tank having rounded
ends and partition part way down the middle,
providing channel around which pulp circulates
continuously

- Beating fibers makes paper stronger, more

uniform, more dense, more opaque and less
porous
- Bonding between fibers increased by beating
- Most mills use conical refiner or Jordan engine
(Fig. 33.4 & 33.5)
- Pulp is deformed, defibered & dispersed but not
cut by device
- Besides fiber, paper contains fillers, sizes and
dyes which are added drg refining process
- Various types of pulps are blended to give
desired properties, then filler and color added to
mixture and beaten to uniformity

- Alum added to coat fibers and coagulate

materials present
- All papers except absorbent ones (tissues,
toweling, filter) require filler to give smoother
surface, more brilliant whiteness, improved
smoothness and printability and improved
opacity
- Fillers : finely ground inorganic materials eg. Talc
or special clays or titanium oxidel precipitated
calcium carbonate or certain silico-aluminates
- Sizing : to improve resistance to penetration by
liquids
- Sizing agent : rosin soap made from tall oil, wax
emulsions also used

 Dry process
- Interest in dry process due to cost and
complexity of drying equipment and
enormous process-water demands of
conventional methods
- Pilot plant built to make paper by dry
process but technical problems still
unresolved