Pulp and Paper Processes for Sustainable Production

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• Pulp and Paper Processes for Sustainable
  Production

Keith Larson
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History of Paper Making

• 105 A.D. Tsai Lun a Chinese court official
  invented paper
• mulberry bark hemp and rags with water
• Paper was first produced in Egypt around 900 A.D.
  
• England early in the 14th Century

To this point all paper and books were produced
by hand
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History of Paper Making

• Gutenberg Press in 1436
• On September 30 1452 Guttenbergs Bible was
  published
• The printing press allowed
• printed materials to be
• produced at a greater rate
• thus increasing the demand
• for paper

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History of Paper Making

• First North American paper mill in 1690 near
  Philadelphia
• Americas first writing papers were produced by
  collecting separating and cleaning old cloth
  rags
• The paper was made in single sheets

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History of Paper Making

• 1798 Nicholas-Louis Robert of France invented a
  paper making machine that produced paper on an
  endless wire screen
• Further developed in England by Brian Donkin
• Not put into service until 1804

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History of Paper Making

• The Fourdrinier

1st Fourdrinier machine in the US 1827
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History of Paper Making
Two major advancements in pulping were developed
in the late 1800s

• 1866
• American Benjamin Tilghman developed the sulfite
  pulping process
• Dominant pulping process until the 1930s

• 1879
• German chemist C. F. Dahl developed the Kraft
  pulping process
• 1930s dominant pulping process and still is today

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Advantages of the Kraft Process

• The majority of the chemicals used in the pulping
  process are recoverable for use in further
  pulping operations
• Large amounts of energy are produced in the
  recovery boilers during the recovery process
• The Kraft process can pulp pine trees

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Ocala National Forest Dec. 1998

• Pine trees are abundant throughout much of the
  United States. The Kraft process allowed the
  United States to become a major producer of paper
  products. However the Kraft process has created
  environmental problems

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The Modern Paper Making Process

• The process of making paper begins far from the
  paper mill itself

Clearcut in Oregons Coast Range
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The Modern Paper Making Process
Paper Making Process Overview Chesterton 2004
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The Modern Paper Making Process
Wood Yard Chesterton 2004
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The Modern Paper Making Process
Five Methods of pulping

• Mechanical Pulping
• Chemimechanical
• Thermomechanical
• Chemimechanical and Thermomechanical Pulping
  (CTMP)
• Chemical Pulping

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The Modern Paper Making Process

• The chemical method is the most popular because
  it produces a higher quality paper than
  mechanical pulping
• The most popular method of pulp production is the
  Kraft process producing nearly 85 of all pulp
  in the United States
• This will be the focus of the pulping description
  

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The Modern Paper Making Process
Chesterton Pulp Digester Chesterton 2004
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The Modern Paper Making Process
Chesterton Pulp washers Chesterton 2004
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The Modern Paper Making Process
Chesterton Bleach Plant Chesterton 2004
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The Modern Paper Making Process
Paper Machine Chesterton 2004
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The Modern Paper Making Process
Recovery Evaporators Chesterton 2004
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The Modern Paper Making Process
Recovery Boiler Chesterton 2004
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The Modern Paper Making Process
Recovery Causticizing Chesterton 2004
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The Modern Paper Making Process
Water Treatment Chesterton 2004
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The Problems and Solutions

• The pulp and paper industry came into its own
  during a period when the environmental effects of
  chemical plants were not well understood and
  discharges were not well regulated
• The operation of a pulp and paper mill creates
  many environmental concerns

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The Problems and Solutions
Brush Creek Private Land Oregon

• One of the very first impacts of the paper
  industry was the deforestation of large tracts of
  land in the early 1900s
• Today the paper companies practice a process of
  sustainable forestry

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The Problems and Solutions

• The Sustainable Forest Initiative program was
  developed in 1994 by the American Forest Paper
  Association to ensure forests are protected
• responsible environmental practices and sound
  business practices can be integrated to the
  benefit of landowners shareholders customers
  and the people they serve aboutsfi 2004

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The Problems and Solutions

• For every tree harvested today the paper
  companies are planting five seedlings
• There is now more forestland than in 1970
• The Sustainable Forest Initiative has been a
  success

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The Problems and Solutions

• Many environmental concerns surround water usage
• Release of Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)
• and Sludge
• Creation of Dioxins and Furans
• BOD COD TSS

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The Problems and Solutions

• Hydrogen Sulfide
• Hydrogen sulfide is a toxic gas that smells like
  rotten eggs
• At elevated levels it can irritate the eyes and
  respiratory system
• It can be deadly at very high levels (greater
  than 500000 parts per billion)

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The Problems and Solutions

• No current Federal Limits on H2S
• In January 2000 EPA issued a Federal Register
  notice announcing H2S is one of the chemicals for
  which EPA is developing a health assessment
• Individual States are setting limits

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The Problems and Solutions

• Dioxins and Furans
• Most toxic chemicals known to science
• The most toxic compound is 2378-tetrachlorodibe
  nzo-p-dioxin or TCDD
• Any process that uses chlorine can change or
  generate chlorinated dioxins and furans
• White Paper bleaching uses Chlorine

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(EPA/600/C-01/012 March 2001)
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The Problems and Solutions

• Reduction of Wastewater
• Reduce the demand for the high quality
  bright-white paper
• For lower quality papers use a combination of
  other chemicals in the bleach process (oxygen for
  example)
• Do a better job of pulping the wood

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The Problems and Solutions

• Ash and smoke byproducts of burning the black
  liquor and fuel in the recovery boiler and power
  boiler escapes thru the smoke stacks

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The Problems and Solutions

• Improved electrostatic precipitators are being
  installed to help prevent the release of ash and
  smoke into the atmosphere
• The process of concentrating the black liquor has
  been improved
• Use cleaner burning fuels

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Hope for the Future

• Still have a long way to go to prevent any
  environmental impact
• Operating a paper mill is a balancing act

Cost
Environment
Quality
Time
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Hope for the Future

• Advances Toward Sustainability
• Sustainable Forest Initiative Program
• Recovery of Process Chemicals
• Recycling of Process Water
• Reduction of Dioxin Production
• Make use of by-product Residue
• Tall Oil used in paints perfume cosmetics
• Turpentine

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Hope for the Future

• responsible environmental practices and sound
  business practices can be integrated to the
  benefit of landowners shareholders customers
  and the people they serve

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References

• http//www.americanlands.org/forestweb/photos.htm
• http//www.aboutsfi.org/about.asp 2004.
• http//www.afandpa.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Pulp
  _and_Paper/Paper_-_the_history_and_making/Paper_-_
  the_history_and_making.htm 2004.
• http//cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfmdei
  d20797 (EPA/600/C-01/012 March 2001)
• http//www.chesterton.com/pulp-paper/ 2004.
• http//www.linde.com/en/en.jsp 2004.
• http//www.paperhall.org/info/glossary.html
  2004.
• Profile of the Pulp and Paper Manufacturing
  Sector in Georgia 1993 http//www.ganet.org/dnr/
  p2ad/pblcations/pulp/page1.html
• World Bank. 1996. Pollution Prevention and
  Abatement Pulp and Paper Mills. Draft
  Technical Background Document. The Environment
  Department Washington D.C.
• World Bank. 1998. Pollution Prevention and
  Abatement Pulp and Paper Mills. Darft
  Technical Background Document. The Environment
  Department Washington D.C.