Paper

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Paper
Various products made from paper.JPG
Material typeThin material
Physical properties
Density (ρ)From 10 gsm to 3000 gsm

Paper stability

A book printed in 1920 on acidic paper, now disintegrating a hundred years later. Book suffering from slow fire.jpg
A book printed in 1920 on acidic paper, now disintegrating a hundred years later.

Much of the early paper made from wood pulp contained significant amounts of alum, a variety of aluminium sulfate salt that is significantly acidic. Alum was added to paper to assist in sizing, [24] making it somewhat water resistant so that inks did not "run" or spread uncontrollably. Early papermakers did not realize that the alum they added liberally to cure almost every problem encountered in making their product would be eventually detrimental. [25] The cellulose fibres that make up paper are hydrolyzed by acid, and the presence of alum eventually degrades the fibres until the acidic paper disintegrates in a process known as "slow fire". Documents written on rag paper are significantly more stable. The use of non-acidic additives to make paper is becoming more prevalent, and the stability of these papers is less of an issue.

Paper made from mechanical pulp contains significant amounts of lignin, a major component in wood. In the presence of light and oxygen, lignin reacts to give yellow materials, [26] which is why newsprint and other mechanical paper yellows with age. Paper made from bleached kraft or sulfite pulps does not contain significant amounts of lignin and is therefore better suited for books, documents and other applications where whiteness of the paper is essential.

Paper made from wood pulp is not necessarily less durable than a rag paper. The aging behaviour of a paper is determined by its manufacture, not the original source of the fibres. [27] Furthermore, tests sponsored by the Library of Congress prove that all paper is at risk of acid decay, because cellulose itself produces formic, acetic, lactic and oxalic acids. [28]

Mechanical pulping yields almost a tonne of pulp per tonne of dry wood used, which is why mechanical pulps are sometimes referred to as "high yield" pulps. With almost twice the yield as chemical pulping, mechanical pulps is often cheaper. Mass-market paperback books and newspapers tend to use mechanical papers. Book publishers tend to use acid-free paper, made from fully bleached chemical pulps for hardback and trade paperback books.

Environmental impact

The production and use of paper has a number of adverse effects on the environment.

Worldwide consumption of paper has risen by 400% in the past 40 years[ clarification needed ] leading to increase in deforestation, with 35% of harvested trees being used for paper manufacture. Most paper companies also plant trees to help regrow forests. Logging of old growth forests accounts for less than 10% of wood pulp, [29] but is one of the most controversial issues.

Paper waste accounts for up to 40% of total waste produced in the United States each year, which adds up to 71.6 million tons of paper waste per year in the United States alone. [30] The average office worker in the US prints 31 pages every day. [31] Americans also use in the order of 16 billion paper cups per year.

Conventional bleaching of wood pulp using elemental chlorine produces and releases into the environment large amounts of chlorinated organic compounds, including chlorinated dioxins. [32] Dioxins are recognized as a persistent environmental pollutant, regulated internationally by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Dioxins are highly toxic, and health effects on humans include reproductive, developmental, immune and hormonal problems. They are known to be carcinogenic. Over 90% of human exposure is through food, primarily meat, dairy, fish and shellfish, as dioxins accumulate in the food chain in the fatty tissue of animals. [33]

The paper pulp and print industries emitted together about 1% of world greenhouse-gas emissions in 2010 [34] and about 0.9% in 2012. [35]

Current production and use

In the 2022−2024 edition of the annual "Pulp and paper capacites survey", the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reports that Asia has superseded North America as the top pulp and paper producing continent. [36]

FAO figures for 2021 show the production of graphic papers continuing its decline from a mid-2000s peak to hover below 100 million tonnes a year. By contrast, the production of other papers and paperboard – which includes cardboard and sanitary products – has continued to soar, exceeding 320 million tonnes. [36]

FAO has documented the expanding production of cardboard in paper and paperboard, which has been increasing in response to the spread of e-commerce since the 2010s. [36] Data from FAO suggest that it has been even further boosted by COVID-19-related lockdowns. [37]

Future

Some manufacturers have started using a new, significantly more environmentally friendly alternative to expanded plastic packaging. Made out of paper, and known commercially as PaperFoam, the new packaging has mechanical properties very similar to those of some expanded plastic packaging, but is biodegradable and can also be recycled with ordinary paper. [38]

With increasing environmental concerns about synthetic coatings (such as PFOA) and the higher prices of hydrocarbon based petrochemicals, there is a focus on zein (corn protein) as a coating for paper in high grease applications such as popcorn bags. [39]

Also, synthetics such as Tyvek and Teslin have been introduced as printing media as a more durable material than paper.

See also

Citations

  1. Hogben, Lancelot. "Printing, Paper and Playing Cards". Bennett, Paul A. (ed.) Books and Printing: A Treasury for Typophiles. New York: The World Publishing Company, 1951. pp. 15–31. p. 17. & Mann, George. Print: A Manual for Librarians and Students Describing in Detail the History, Methods, and Applications of Printing and Paper Making. London: Grafton & Co., 1952. p. 77
  2. 1 2 3 Tsien 1985 , p. 38
  3. Ward, James (2015). The Perfection of the Paper Clip: Curious Tales of Invention, Accidental Genius, and Stationery Obsession. Atria Books. ISBN   978-1476799865.
  4. Burns 1996 , pp. 417f.
  5. Murray, Stuart A. P. The Library: An illustrated History. Skyhorse Publishing, 2009, p. 57.
  6. Burger, Peter (2007). Charles Fenerty and his paper invention. Toronto: Peter Burger. pp. 25–30. ISBN   978-0-9783318-1-8. OCLC   173248586. Archived from the original on 19 April 2009. Retrieved 19 May 2009.
  7. 1 2 3 Göttsching, Lothar; Gullichsen, Johan; Pakarinen, Heikki; Paulapuro, Hannu; Yhdistys, Suomen Paperi-Insinöörien; Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (2000). Recycling fiber and deinking. Finland: Fapet Oy. pp. 12–14. ISBN   978-952-5216-07-3. OCLC   247670296.
  8. πάπυρος Archived 16 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine , Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek–English Lexicon, on Perseus
  9. "papyrus". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 29 January 2020.
  10. "papyrus". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved 20 November 2008.
  11. "Natural Resource Defense Council". Archived from the original on 24 February 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  12. Appropriate Technology. Intermediate Technology Publications. 1996.
  13. Thorn, Ian; Au, Che On (24 July 2009). Applications of Wet-End Paper Chemistry. Springer Science & Business Media. Bibcode:2009aowp.book.....T. ISBN   978-1-4020-6038-0.
  14. "ARCHIVED – Introduction – Detecting the Truth. Fakes, Forgeries and Trickery – Library and Archives Canada" Archived 2 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine in a virtual museum exhibition at Library and Archives Canada
  15. 1 2 "The World's Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information" Archived 12 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine , especially Supporting online material Archived 18 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine , Martin Hilbert and Priscila López (2011), Science, 332(6025), 60–65; free access to the article through here: martinhilbert.net/WorldInfoCapacity.html doi : 10.1126/science.1200970
  16. "Lynette Schweigert". NEA. 5 November 2015. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  17. "Herminia Albarrán Romero". NEA. 24 January 2013. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  18. Morris (August–September 2018). "Material Values, Paper". The Economist. p. 38.
  19. "Paper Thickness (Caliper) Chart". Case Paper. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  20. Elert, Glenn. "Thickness of a Piece of Paper". The Physics Factbook. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  21. McKenzie, Bruce G. (1989). The Hammerhill guide to desktop publishing in business. Hammerhill. p. 144. ISBN   978-0-9615651-1-4. OCLC   851074844.
  22. "Density of paper and paperboard". PaperOnWeb. Archived from the original on 19 October 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
  23. Johnson, Arthur (1978). The Thames and Hudson manual of bookbinding. London: Thames and Hudson. OCLC   959020143.
  24. Biermann, Christopher J/ (1993). Essentials of pulping and papermaking . San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN   978-0-12-097360-6. OCLC   813399142.
  25. Clark, James d'A. (1985). Pulp Technology and Treatment for Paper (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Miller Freeman Publications. ISBN   978-0-87930-164-4.
  26. Fabbri, Claudia; Bietti, Massimo; Lanzalunga, Osvaldo (2005). "Generation and Reactivity of Ketyl Radicals with Lignin Related Structures. On the Importance of the Ketyl Pathway in the Photoyellowing of Lignin Containing Pulps and Papers". J. Org. Chem. 2005 (70): 2720–2728. doi:10.1021/jo047826u. PMID   15787565.
  27. Erhardt, D.; Tumosa, C. (2005). "Chemical Degradation of Cellulose in Paper over 500 years". Restaurator: International Journal for the Preservation of Library and Archival Material. 26 (3): 155. doi:10.1515/rest.2005.26.3.151. S2CID   98291111.
  28. "The Deterioration and Preservation of Paper: Some Essential Facts". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2015. Research by the Library of Congress has demonstrated that cellulose itself generates acids as it ages, including formic, acetic, lactic, and oxalic acids
  29. Martin, Sam (2004). "Paper Chase". Ecology Communications, Inc. Archived from the original on 19 June 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
  30. EPA (28 June 2006). "General Overview of What's in America's Trash". United States Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original on 5 January 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  31. Groll, T. 2015 In vielen Büros wird unnötig viel ausgedruckt Archived 17 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine , Zeit Online, 20 June 2015.
  32. Effluents from Pulp Mills using Bleaching – PSL1. Health Canada DSS. 1991. ISBN   978-0-662-18734-9. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2007. Pdf Archived 12 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  33. "Dioxins and their effects on human health". World Health Organization. June 2014. Archived from the original on 27 April 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2015. More than 90% of human exposure is through food
  34. "World GHG Emissions Flow Chart 2010" (PDF). Ecofys. Ecofys. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  35. "World GHG Emissions 2012". SANKEY DIAGRAMS. Ecofys. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  36. 1 2 3 Sustainability by numbers: Forest products at FAO. Rome: FAO. 2023.
  37. "COVID-19 leads to changes in paper and paperboard production". www.fao.org. 3 September 2021. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  38. "PaperFoam Carbon Friendly Packaging". Archived from the original on 9 March 2006. Retrieved 3 April 2006.
  39. "Barrier compositions and articles produced with the compositions cross-reference to related application". Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.

General references

Further reading

Paper
Paper (Chinese characters).svg
"Paper" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg Discussion with Mark Kurlansky on Paper: Paging Through History, June 12, 2016, C-SPAN

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papermaking</span> Economic sector

Papermaking is the manufacture of paper and cardboard, which are used widely for printing, writing, and packaging, among many other purposes. Today almost all paper is made using industrial machinery, while handmade paper survives as a specialized craft and a medium for artistic expression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pulp (paper)</span> Fibrous material used notably in papermaking

Pulp is a lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibers from wood, fiber crops, waste paper, or rags. Mixed with water and other chemical or plant-based additives, pulp is the major raw material used in papermaking and the industrial production of other paper products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paper engineering</span>

Paper engineering is a branch of engineering that deals with the usage of physical science and life sciences in conjunction with mathematics as applied to the converting of raw materials into useful paper products and co-products. The field applies various principles in process engineering and unit operations to the manufacture of paper, chemicals, energy and related materials. The following timeline shows some of the key steps in the development of the science of chemical and bioprocess engineering:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paperboard</span> Thick paper-based material

Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker than paper and has certain superior attributes such as foldability and rigidity. According to ISO standards, paperboard is a paper with a grammage above 250 g/m2, but there are exceptions. Paperboard can be single- or multi-ply.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pulpwood</span>

Pulpwood can be defined as timber that is ground and processed into a fibrous pulp. This type of wood is commonly used for paper-making but can also be made into low-grade wood and used for chips, energy, pellets, and engineered products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paper machine</span> Industrial machine used in the pulp and paper industry

A paper machine is an industrial machine which is used in the pulp and paper industry to create paper in large quantities at high speed. Modern paper-making machines are based on the principles of the Fourdrinier Machine, which uses a moving woven mesh to create a continuous paper web by filtering out the fibres held in a paper stock and producing a continuously moving wet mat of fibre. This is dried in the machine to produce a strong paper web.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acid-free paper</span> Type of paper used for preservation

Acid-free paper is paper that, if infused in water, yields a neutral or basic pH. It can be made from any cellulose fiber as long as the active acid pulp is eliminated during processing. It is also lignin- and sulfur-free. Acid-free paper addresses the problem of preserving documents and preserving artwork for long periods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kraft process</span> Process of converting wood into wood pulp

The kraft process (also known as kraft pulping or sulfate process) is a process for conversion of wood into wood pulp, which consists of almost pure cellulose fibres, the main component of paper. The kraft process involves treatment of wood chips with a hot mixture of water, sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and sodium sulfide (Na2S), known as white liquor, that breaks the bonds that link lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose. The technology entails several steps, both mechanical and chemical. It is the dominant method for producing paper. In some situations, the process has been controversial because kraft plants can release odorous products and in some situations produce substantial liquid wastes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paper recycling</span> Process by which waste paper is turned into new paper products

The recycling of paper is the process by which waste paper is turned into new paper products. It has a number of important benefits: It saves waste paper from occupying homes of people and producing methane as it breaks down. Because paper fibre contains carbon, recycling keeps the carbon locked up for longer and out of the atmosphere. Around two-thirds of all paper products in the US are now recovered and recycled, although it does not all become new paper. After repeated processing the fibres become too short for the production of new paper, which is why virgin fibre is frequently added to the pulp recipe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pulp mill</span>

A pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fiber sources into a thick fiber board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical, or fully chemical methods. The finished product may be either bleached or non-bleached, depending on the customer requirements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kraft paper</span> Paper or paperboard produced from chemical pulp produced in the kraft process

Kraft paper or kraft is paper or paperboard (cardboard) produced from chemical pulp produced in the kraft process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracing paper</span> Paper made to have low opacity, allowing light to pass through

Tracing paper is paper made to have low opacity, allowing light to pass through. Its origins date back to at least the 1300s where it was used by artists of the Italian Renaissance. In the 1880s, tracing paper was produced en masse, used by architects, design engineers, and artists. Tracing paper was key in creating drawings that could be copied precisely using the diazo copy process. It then found many other uses. The original use for drawing and tracing was largely superseded by technologies that do not require diazo copying or manual copying of drawings.

Bleaching of wood pulp is the chemical processing of wood pulp to lighten its color and whiten the pulp. The primary product of wood pulp is paper, for which whiteness is an important characteristic. These processes and chemistry are also applicable to the bleaching of non-wood pulps, such as those made from bamboo or kenaf.

The sulfite process produces wood pulp that is almost pure cellulose fibers by treating wood chips with solutions of sulfite and bisulfite ions. These chemicals cleave the bonds between the cellulose and lignin components of the lignocellulose. A variety of sulfite/bisulfite salts are used, including sodium (Na+), calcium (Ca2+), potassium (K+), magnesium (Mg2+), and ammonium (NH4+). The lignin is converted to lignosulfonates, which are soluble and can be separated from the cellulose fibers. For the production of cellulose, the sulfite process competes with the Kraft process which produces stronger fibers and is less environmentally costly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vulcanized fibre</span>

Vulcanized fibre or red fibre is a laminated plastic composed of only cellulose. The material is a tough, resilient, hornlike material that is lighter than aluminium, tougher than leather, and stiffer than most thermoplastics. The newer wood-laminating grade of vulcanized fibre is used to strengthen wood laminations used in skis, skateboards, support beams and as a sub-laminate under thin wood veneers.

Deinking is the industrial process of removing printing ink from paperfibers of recycled paper to make deinked pulp.

Dissolving pulp, also called dissolving cellulose, is bleached wood pulp or cotton linters that has a high cellulose content. It has special properties including a high level of brightness and uniform molecular-weight distribution. This pulp is manufactured for uses that require a high chemical purity, and particularly low hemicellulose content, since the chemically similar hemicellulose can interfere with subsequent processes. Dissolving pulp is so named because it is not made into paper, but dissolved either in a solvent or by derivatization into a homogeneous solution, which makes it completely chemically accessible and removes any remaining fibrous structure. Once dissolved, it can be spun into textile fibers, or chemically reacted to produce derivatized celluloses, such cellulose triacetate, a plastic-like material formed into fibers or films, or cellulose ethers such as methyl cellulose, used as a thickener.

Wood-free paper is paper created exclusively from chemical pulp rather than mechanical pulp. Chemical pulp is normally made from pulpwood, but is not considered wood as most of the lignin is removed and separated from the cellulose fibers during processing, whereas mechanical pulp retains most of its wood components and can therefore still be described as wood. Wood-free paper is not as susceptible to yellowing as paper containing mechanical pulp. Wood-free paper offers several environmental and economic benefits, including reduced deforestation, decreased energy consumption, and improved waste management. The term Wood-free paper can be rather misleading or confusing for someone unfamiliar with the papermaking process because paper is normally made from wood pulp derived from trees and shrubs. However, wood free paper does not mean that the paper in question is not made from wood pulp but it means that the lignin in the wood fiber has been removed by a chemical process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paper chemicals</span> Chemicals used in paper manufacturing

Paper chemicals designate a group of chemicals that are used for paper manufacturing, or modify the properties of paper. These chemicals can be used to alter the paper in many ways, including changing its color and brightness, or by increasing its strength and resistance to water. The chemicals can be defined on basis of their usage in the process.

Hemp paper is paper varieties consisting exclusively or to a large extent from pulp obtained from fibers of industrial hemp. The products are mainly specialty papers such as cigarette paper, banknotes and technical filter papers. Compared to wood pulp, hemp pulp offers a four to five times longer fibre, a significantly lower lignin fraction as well as a higher tear resistance and tensile strength. Because the paper industry's processes have been optimized for wood as the feedstock, production costs currently are much higher than for paper from wood.