Corresponding author:
Magdalena Rybaczewska-Baejowska
Kielce University of Technology
Department of Production Engineering
Al. Tysiclecia Pastwa Polskiego 7, 25-314 Kielce, Poland
phone: (+48) 41 342-42-52
e-mail: m.blazejowska@wp.pl
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stage to disposal. However, it can be equally applied point where the final products are made. The process
to the selected stages of a products or processs life flows of tissue paper manufactured from virgin pulp
cycle [13, 14]. and the system boundaries that cover the tissue
The life cycle of tissue paper manufactured paper production are illustrated in Fig. 2. The tis-
from virgin pulp includes the following processes: sue paper production has two basic units: the stock
the wood logging, the pulp and chemicals making preparation and the paper making process in the
processes, the tissue paper production, and, finally, paper machine. The stock preparation consists of
the use and disposal of tissue paper. In the presented the following stages: fiber slushing, the removal of
study, the system boundaries have been restricted impurities, fiber refining. Finally, the pulp is fed to
from the point that the main raw material has been a paper machine where it is formed and most its
delivered to the mills manufacturing papers to the properties are determined.
Fig. 3. Process ows of tissue paper production from recycled waste paper.
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Regarding the tissue paper manufactured from ctional unit that is 1 ton of tissue paper. The prima-
the recycled waste paper, the complete life cycle ry source of data was the report on The Best Avail-
covers the following processes: the collection and able Techniques (BAT). Guidelines for the Pulp and
pre-treatment of waste paper, the tissue paper pro- Paper Industry since the majority of Polish paper
duction and the treatment of waste from the produc- mills producing tissue paper fulfill the environmental
tion processes, the use of tissue paper and, finally, requirements of BAT [3, 4].
its disposal. Due to the fact that a numerous of for-
mer studies proved that all the above enumerated Results and discussion
unit processes, despite the production phase, have
minor environmental impacts on the life cycle of tis- The LCA analysis of the two systems of tis-
sue paper, they were excluded from the analysis [10, sue paper manufacturing was done using the soft-
15, 16]. Figure 3 presents the process flows of tissue ware of SimaPro8 and the ReCiPe method. This
paper production from recycled waste paper and the LCIA method comprises harmonized category indi-
system boundaries that cover the tissue paper pro- cators at two levels: eighteen midpoint indicators (in-
duction. The main stages of the recycled waste paper cluding climate change, terrestrial acidification, fresh
preparation cover: waste paper storage, repulping of water eutrophication, photochemical oxidant forma-
the dry recovered waste paper, mechanical removal tion, particulate matter formation, fossil depletion)
of impurities (screening, cleaning) and bleaching. Fi- and three endpoint indicators (Resources, Ecosys-
nally, the pulp is pumped to the storage chests that tems, Human Health) [20]. The indicator scores are
serve as a buffer between the stock preparation and a measure of the environmental load of a product or
paper machine [3]. process.
In this study, the inventory (LCI) results of the
Inventory analysis product systems are presented as the process trees
Life cycle inventory (LCI) covers the collection (see Figs. 5 and 6). The thickness of the line repre-
and quantification of inputs and outputs for a giv- sents the total environmental load of the each process
en product or process system throughout its life according to the ReCiPe Endpoint score.
cycle [17]. Consequently, data collection is carried
out in order to draw up a comprehensive balance of
the energy, materials and chemicals taken from the
environment that enter the system and that leave
the system as emissions to the environment [18,
19]. A summary inventory of environmental flows of
the system of tissue paper production covers: virgin
pulp or waste paper pulp, water, electricity, heat,
Fig. 5. The process tree for the tissue paper production
resin, starch and dyes (as inputs), and air emis-
from virgin pulp.
sions, water emissions and solid waste (as outputs)
(see Fig. 4). All the data refer to the defined fun-
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the energy consumption characteristic of paper in- Considering the environmental impact of individual
dustry and negative consequences arising from the input factors, it is evident that the electricity dom-
processes of electricity production. The generation inates some impact categories, for instance human
of electricity in Poland is almost entirely based on toxicity, freshwater eutrophication, freshwater and
the solid fossil fuels hard coal and brown coal, marine ecotoxicity, while virgin pulp dominates oth-
and therefore, it is highly burdensome for the en- ers, mostly urban and agricultural land occupation,
vironment, causing the production of mostly consid- terrestrial ecotoxicity (see Fig. 7).
erable emission of gas pollution and constant side Corresponding the data inventory, four inputs
combustion products. Significant amounts of energy were identified that have the greatest environmental
absorbed in order to maintain the motion of engines load during the tissue paper production from waste
in machines and devices used in the tissue paper paper. These are electricity, heat, resin and starch
production process, influence degradation and pol- (see Fig. 6). They constitute 92.08% of environmen-
lution of the natural environment. In particular, the tal impacts of all materials and substances used dur-
Through-Air Drying process (TAD) is highly ener- ing the manufacturing process of the tissue paper
gy consuming, since during that process it is neces- from waste paper. Out of these four inputs, electrici-
sary to warm the huge amounts of air. Furthermore, ty consumption accounts for 73.3% and thus has the
making frequent changes of grade and color of tis- largest contribution in the environmental impacts.
sue paper in the paper machine slightly decrease the Similar trend occurs when the contribution of ener-
efficiency of raw materials usage, energy included. gy in the individual impact categories is considered
Degradation of the natural environment in the tis- (see Fig. 8). Consequently, in all categories, despite
sue paper production process also results from the ozone depletion, the electricity has the largest share.
usage of virgin pulp whose production involves such In the case of the following impact categories: hu-
significant environmental aspects as: raw materials man toxicity, freshwater eutrophication, freshwater
usage, including wood, the usage of chemicals and and marine ecotoxicity, urban land occupation and
energy, emissions to the air, emission of pollution in- natural land transformation, the share of electricity
to the wastewater and the creation of the solid waste. exceeds 90%.
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Fig. 8. Characterization of the tissue paper production from recycled waste paper.
The production of tissue paper from recycled of energy by burning fossil fuels. In the case of the
waste paper requires large quantities of electricity tissue paper made of virgin pulp, harvesting forest
for driving the machinery (approximately one third lands to procure the wood for pulping makes an ad-
is consumed during thickening and dispersion) and ditional environmental burden that contribute to the
wastewater treatment. At the same time, a consid- agricultural land occupation impact category (6.5%).
erable amount of steam is used for heating of wa-
ter, pulp, air and chemicals to the demanded process Table 1
temperature and for drying the paper. To meet the Environmental impact assessment of tissue paper production
in the midpoint impact categories.
need for electricity and steam, the tissue paper mills
Tissue Tissue
either buy electricity from the public grid and gen- paper paper
Impact categories
erate heat internally or apply co-generated heat and from virgin from waste
power installations (CHP). The second solution is far pulp paper
Climate change
more environmentally friendly, due to its high total 15.4% 16.3%
Human Health
yield, up to 80%.
Human toxicity 47.4% 52.3%
Both the tissue paper production from virgin Climate change
pulp and from recycled waste paper are the greatest Ecosystems 12.3% 13%
contributors to the following midpoint environmen- Agricultural land
occupation 6.5% 0.3%
tal impact categories: human toxicity, climate change
human health and ecosystems, and fossil deple- Fossil depletion 12.2% 12.5%
tion, which constitute 49.85%, 15.85% and 12.65%, Others 6.2% 5.6%
and 12.35% on average, respectively (Table 1). The
achieved results confirmed that paper mills are the Tissue paper manufacturing from virgin pulp is
source of considerable water emissions (COD, BOD), more environmentally intensive than from recycle
solid waste (discards, sewage sludge) and air emis- waste paper in all endpoint impact categories: hu-
sions (CO2 , NOX ) associated with the production man health, ecosystems and resources (see Fig. 9).
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Fig. 9. Environmental impact assessment of tissue paper
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production in the endpoint impact categories.
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