Introduction
The purpose of this guide is to provide the reader with an understanding
of the materials used to manufacture paper, and the processes employed
in a modern paper mill, to produce high quality products for both offset
and rotogravure printing.
Raw material
There are many species of trees which can be used in the manufacture of
paper products. However, in this guide, it is the use of mainly conifer-
ous trees and recovered fibre from post consumer waste which will be
described in the manufacturing processes.
In Europe and the Nordic countries, it is spruce and pine trees which are
principally used, as these give the most advantageous properties from
their fibres in the papermaking processes.
Thermo
Mechanical pulp Yield of
(TMP) 90-98%
The pulp
processes
Chemi-Thermo
Yield of
Mechanical pulp
85-90%
(CTMP)
Chemical pulp
Yield of
Sulphate
43-52%
process
A TMP-refiner produces about 300 tonnes
pulp per day.
1. Pulp after
cooking.
Bleaching
Bleaching is an absolute requirement for high quality. The
pulp produced from any of the pulping methods, has a
somewhat brown appearance. All pulps can be bleached
to higher brightness. Bleaching is an absolute demand
for high qualithy printing paper, because of better colour
reproduction.
5. After ozone
bleaching.
6. Peroxide
bleaching, At SCA strand the production
step 2. has been chlorine free since
1996 when the old bleach-
ing plant was replaced by
the modern facility. Operating
totally chlorine-free means that
no chemicals containing chlorine
are used in bleaching. At SCA
Ortviken the mechanical pulping
process is totally chlorine-free.
Recovered fibres
adhering to the fibres. Fatty acid soap is introduced in a Lifespan of recovered fibres
large vessel containing warm water and the dirty pulp.
Fresh fibre is constantly required to sustain the recycling
The soap loosens the binding of the ink from the fibres. process, since fibres only can be recovered up to seven
Compressed air is passed from the bottom of the vessel times. Only about 80% of recycled fibre can be recovered
to the surface. In doing so, soap bubbles are produced in the deinking process. Repeated recycling gradually
which attract the released ink particles. The bubbles, with results in shorter and weaker fibres that must eventually
the ink attached, rise to the surface of the water to form a be screened out during the recovery process. These spent
dirty scum. This scum is then skimmed away in the waste fibres can then be incinerated to produce energy.
water. This is repeated using multiple vessels, until the
pulp is completely clean. Some bleaching of the pulp may
be required, to stabilise the brightness to a uniform and
consistent level.
The furnish
Once the pulp has been made to the correct brightness, dye
can be added to stabilise the exact shade. The human eye is
very perceptive to differences in shade. Depending on the
final product, certain other additives and process materials
may be introduced into the pulp. Large volumes of water
are added before moving the furnish to the headbox.
The headbox
In the headbox, the consistency of the furnish is 99%
water and process materials and 1% fibre. This volume
of water is required to prevent flocculation. Flocculation
is the tendency of the fibres to bunch together. If this was
allowed to happen, a poor sheet formation would result.
To help prevent flocculation, turbulence is created in the The headbox at PM 1 SCA Ortviken.
headbox. The headbox distributes a controlled, even flow
of the furnish onto the next part of the paper machine to
begin forming the sheet of paper.
DuoFormer TQv
Picture of a Gap-Former machine, PM 11 at SCA Graphic Laakirchen.
DuoFormer TQv
Press Section
Once the formation of the paper sheet has been estab-
lished, further removal of water takes place in the press
section of the paper machine. The paper sheet, which
still has a high water content, passes between a series of
large steel rollers which compress the sheet to squeeze
out further amounts of water. The paper web is held in a
sandwich of absorbent felt material as it passes between
the steel compression rollers. The felt material, in the form
of endless belts, act like blotting paper to absorb the water,
and vacuum boxes extract the water from the felts, before
they meet the paper sheet on the next revolution. At the
end of the press section, the dry content has increased to
40-50%. The sheet of paper can now support itself. A Voith shoe press consolidates the formation of the sheet
during dewatering.
Papermaking
In the drying section the paper is dried by steam hearted steel cylinders.
Dryer Section
To establish the final moisture content of the paper, further steel rollers which contact each side of the paper to smooth
amounts of water are removed by evaporation. The dryer out the top surface fibres. Some paper machines complete
section consists of a series of steam heated cylinders, over the process with a soft calender. A soft calender has two
which the paper web passes. The cylinders are arranged pairs of steel rollers. One roller in each pair is covered with
in such a way that the paper web contacts first one side of a soft plastic material and each pair is arranged in such
the paper, then the other to ensure even de-watering. The a way so contact is made on both sides of the paper with
paper web can be supported during this phase or it can be each of the rollers. The pairing of the soft roller with a
self supporting, depending on the design of the equipment. hard roller produces different frictional forces on the paper
The support enhances the contact and heat transfer as well and imparts a slight glazing effect when smoothing the
as support high speed performance. paper fibres.
The paper has now been produced to the correct specifica- Paper which requires further processes to produce a final
tion and can take various paths for further processing. product is wound onto a steel spool to produce jumbo
For newsprint and newsprint based products, a machine reels, also called tambours. Finally the dry content is
calender may be all the paper requires to produce the fin- 90-95%, depending on the type of product produced.
ished product. A machine calender consists of a number of
Coating
For the production of paper
requiring high quality and
high brightness, as well as
a longer shelf life and a
superior surface on which
to print, a coating layer can
be added to the base paper
produced on the paper
machine. The coating layer
consists mainly of Kaolin
(China Clay), Calcium
Carbonate (CaCo3). Bind-
ing agents are required to
ensure the fine, powdery
material of the kaolin and
calcium carbonate adhere
to the base paper to form a
cohesive layer.
In a blade coater, the coating thickness is regulated by a steel blade scraping off the excess
Other materials, such as coating and returning it to a reservoir.
optical brighteners may also
be added to enhance the
appearance of the paper.
These work by converting Coating machine
ultraviolet light into the
visible spectrum, adding a In most publication paper production processes, the coating can be applied in one of two
blue-white appearance to ways, or in a combination of the two methods. Film coating applies a regulated volume
the paper. thickness onto the base paper. The coating layer follows the contours of the base paper,
producing a constant thickness layer of coating. Blade coating applies a coating layer in
The final appearance of the excess of the final coating volume required. The excess coating is skimmed off the base
paper may have a gloss or paper by a blade, leaving a smooth coating layer on the surface.
matt finish, depending on
further processes. In both methods, first one side of the paper is coated and dried, and then the second
side follows in the same way. Drying is achieved by infra-red and air floatation dryers,
dependant on the manufacturer of the equipment.
Coating
Coating
Calendering
To give the paper its final finish, the paper is calendered.
The job of the calender is to correct any slight anomalies
in the structure of the paper and add a final finish to the
paper. For coated paper, the calender polishes the coat-
ing surface to give smoothness and a gloss finish to the
required specification.
Calanders
Calanders come in various forms including a machine
calender, as described earlier in this brochure, soft calend-
ers and super calenders. In each case they perform tasks
which finish the paper surface to its final specification.
Calanders are made up of steel roller sets, between which
the paper passes. The rollers apply heat and pressure to
the paper, which glaze or polish the surface to the required
gloss level. Each alternate roller can be covered in a softer
plastic material which aids the polishing effect by a slight
speed differential between the steel roller and the plastic
covered roller. Steam heat passed through the hollow steel
roller also helps the process.
Process Control
Throughout each stage of pulp and papermaking, strict
control of each stage is undertaken by highly skilled work-
ers. Along with their technical knowledge, sophisticated
computer based control systems monitor and adjust criti-
cal parameters in each stage of the manufacturing proc-
esses. These are backed up by laboratory based systems
as a double check to the online control systems in the
manufacturing processes. These systems ensure that the
paper produced, consistently meets the technical specifica-
tions for the grade and will perform to the highest stand-
ards in each of the printing processes designated to the
grade produced.
Papermaiking
Environment
SCA is one of Europes largest private forest owner, with The manufacturing processes used are efficient. Wood
some two million hectares of forest land. At SCAs forest tree losses are minimal. Wood chips from sawmills become raw
nursery in Sweden, 85 million seedlings are raised each material for the pulp mill, while bark and shavings are used
year to produce new forest. We replace every tree we har- as fuel. Residual products from the pulp mills, primarily bark
vest with three new ones, either through natural regenera- and liquors, also become fuel and are responsible for a
tion or planting. SCAs Swedish forests were certified under large portion of the mills own energy requirements.
the FSC scheme in January 1999. From one tree trunk
from SCAs forest, a full 95% is used, either for products SCAs environmental policy is that we shall manufacture our
or energy. Since SCA owns sawmills, pulp and paper mills, products in a way that continually reduces their impact on
and manufactures forest-based biofuel, all interact in one the environment. Conservation of resources will be our guid-
efficient system. All grades of wood are used and every part ing principle. Our long-term goal is closed processes.
of a tree can be utilized.
Photo: Per-Anders Sjquist. Illustrations: Voith AG.
Printer: Tryckeribolaget, M 2010. FSC nr SGS-COC-00332
Both the paper and the printer are FSC-certified.
publicationpapers.sca.com