Pulp fiber is a versatile raw material

Paper and board production is unique just because it is based on the use of pulp fiber produced from renewable plant raw materials. Produced pulp consists of highly strong separate fibers capable of strong binding. These are valuable properties of pulp fiber useful for paper and board manufacturing. After its utilization by consumers waste paper and board become raw material for waste fiber manufacturing purposes. According to Jaakko Poyry, by 2010 virgin pulp fiber production is expected to total 200 million tons, with waste fiber produced at the same scale!

Wood fiber is of utmost significance for production of virgin pulp fiber. 40 billion tons of estimated annual global wood increase can produce 20 billion tons of pulp using state-of-the-art technology, which is 100 times more than current annual global production. Pulp fiber is used to manufacture various types of paper, including writing and printing paper, tissue products and bank note paper, newspaper, painting, cigarette, filtering and sack paper, etc.

Board is mainly used to produce board packaging for solid and liquid goods, and various construction elements. Clean pulp is used as raw material for chemical processing, for example when producing dissolved and cordage fiber for different cellulose esters. A proper type of pulp fiber is chosen for each type of board & paper products and pulp used in chemical processing; fibers are subjected to special treatment and additives are used to manufacture such products. This will secure achievement of required parametres, for instance brightness, strength, smoothness, or specific roughness of a sheet surface or chemical purity of fiber.

Wood fiber for pulp manufacturing is subdivided into two main groups: softwood (mainly, pine, larch and spruce) and hardwood (for instance, birch and aspen). Softwood fibers are longer and stronger than those of hardwood being shorter and thinner. Therefore, required paper properties are achieved by selection of a specific fiber type or a fiber mix. A sheet of paper is a homogeneous product while some board types are like a «sandwich» consisting of fibers of different quality. Thus, only softwood fiber is used to manufacture strong paper types, for instance sack paper So, printing paper production requires a set of properties which ensure that a sheet is strong and also has a smooth surface. Therefore, a softwood and hardwood fiber mixture is used with softwood fiber adding strength and hardwood providing for a smoother surface. Fine papers are manufactured through surface treatment with a starch layer or coating paste applied. Accordingly, paper and board is a complex composite product created on the basis of pulp fiber.

Produced roll paper and board can be subjected to additional treatment, for instance it can be cut into sheets of cut-size paper, or laminated with plastic and foil. It is also used to manufacture sacks and paper bags, board crates and boxes, tissue products and many other types of products.

Interesting to know

Before mid-19th-century plant biomass had been widely consumed as fuel to be later replaced by black coal, oil and gas. A century and a half of intensive use of fossil fuel accumulated over geological ages has shown Humankind that subsoil treasures are not infinite and that it will see the times when oil, gas and coal resources will be exhausted. At the same time the total biomass on the Earth increases by 190 billion tons every year with pulp amounting to 100 billion tons, some of which can be converted into ethanol, which is biofuel for internal combustion engines (ICE).