Making Paper from Woodpulp

Wood is made up of cellulose fibres that are bound together by

a material called lignin. In a pulp mill, the fibres are separated
from one another into a mass of individual fibres. This is
called woodpulp.

Woodpulp currently represents 33% of the fibre used to make

paper and board in the UK. 6% of that is home produced and
is used by the 2 integrated mills (that is a mill that carries out the entire papermaking process
from tree to end product). None of these mills use fully mature grown trees, but rather small
dimension timber (which is of no use to other commercial users such as furniture makers and
builders), saw mill waste and forest thinnings.

26% of the woodpulp used in the UK is imported, mainly from Scandinavia and North America. In
the past, the industry used softwoods such as spruce, pine, fir, larch and cedar but hardwoods
such as birch and aspen are also now being used. Fast growing Eucalyptus have been
successfully cultivated in Northern Spain, Portugal and Brazil, and provide the papermaker with
very high quality pulp. No two species of tree produce the same grade of fibre. Softwoods
provide long strong cellulose fibres and are used to produce papers where strength is needed, for
example, packaging papers. The shorter hardwood fibres provide bulk, smoothness and opacity
(stops dark printing showing through the paper). They are used to produce fluting medium (the
wavy layer inside cardboard) and printing and writing paper.

Woodpulp comes from trees from managed forests where more trees are planted than harvested
to ensure that demand for timber products will never outstrip supply.

Certain pulp characteristics depend on the process used to reduce the wood to fibres. There are
three main processes:

Mechanical Pulp

This is a very cost effective but energy intensive process because all the
log apart from the bark is used. Mechanical pulp yields over 90% of the
wood as fibre is produced by forcing debarked logs, about 2 metres long,
and hot water between enormous rotating steel discs with teeth that
literally tear the wood apart. Alternatively, logs can be pressed against
grindstones which is why this process is also known as groundwood pulp.

Trees contain up to 30% lignin, a material which is sensitive to light and

degrades, and turns brown in sunlight. This explains why papers made
from mechanical pulp will discolour when left in the light - an example of
this is newsprint. Newsprint is designed to have a short life span, and if left for a long period of
time will lose its whiteness and strength. The special advantages of mechanical pulp are that it
makes the paper opaque and bulky.

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Chemical Pulp

Most chemical woodpulp is made by the sulphate process. Chips from de-barked logs are
dissolved in caustic soda and sulphur by heat and pressure leaving a strong brown pulp, coloured
by the effect of the chemicals on the lignin and wood sap. The pulp is commonly known as
Kraft - the German word for strong.

About 20% of chemical pulp is made by the sulphite process. Chemical pulping uses less energy
than mechanical pulping. In modern mills, recovery boiler operations and the controlled burning
of bark and other residues make the chemical pulp mill a net energy producer which can often
supply power to the grid, or steam to local domestic heating plants. The chemical pulping process
producers lower fibre yield than mechanical pulping, typically 50-60%.

Chemical pulp, however, produces a strong liquid effluent that needs to be treated. The term
"woodfree" is often used in the trade to signify that the chemical pulping process has been used.
It is not meant to be misleading and has been used for decades to mean free from mechanical
wood" (or "groundwood free").

Combination Pulps

Thermo-Mechanical-Pulp (TMP) and Chemi-Thermo-Mechanical-Pulp (CTMP) are a combination

of the mechanical and chemical processes. De-barked logs are chipped in both, then heated to
extreme temperatures to soften them before passing through refiners for mechanical reduction to
fibres. The difference is that chemicals are sprayed onto the chips in the CTMP process to
assist with the softening of the chips during refining. The main disadvantage of this form of
pulping is the high energy demand.

The consumer often requires high quality papers which retain strength, do not discolour during
storage or go yellow when exposed to light. One of the most effective ways of achieving all three
is by bleaching which has the added advantages of improving absorption capacity, giving a high
level of purity, particularly important when the paper is being used for hygiene, medical or certain
food packaging purposes.

For many years chlorine was used because of its efficiency. In recent years however it has been
discovered that alternative bleaches such as chlorine dioxide or oxygen have a lower impact on
the environment and they are now increasingly being used throughout the industry.

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Trees vary enormously in the time they take to reach their full size. Much depends on climate
and the soil, but these figures give a rough comparison:

Willow 25-35 years

Sitka Spruce 50 years
Douglas Fir 55-60 years
Scots Pine 70-80 years
Norway Spruce 70-75 years
Oak 100 years

Oak trees usually live 200-300 years, but some have been known to live for more than 1,000
years.

When a tree trunk or thick branch is cut across, a series of dark rings can be
seen. These are annual rings which result from seasonal growth. Each ring
represents one year's growth. The grain in timber is caused by the annual
rings which show when a log is cut. Teak, mahogany, Oak, beech and elm
have attractive grain and are used to make furniture.

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