Pulp and paper industry

{{See also|Paper machine|Papermaking}}In the manufacturing process, pulp is introduced into a paper machine where it is shaped into a paper web and water is extracted through pressing and drying stages.

Pressing involves removing water from the sheet by applying force. This process employs a specialized type of felt, distinct from traditional felt, to absorb the water. In contrast, hand-made paper uses a blotter sheet for this purpose.

Drying involves eliminating water from the paper sheets through air or heat. Historically, this was achieved by hanging the sheets to dry, similar to laundry. In modern papermaking, various heated drying mechanisms are employed, with the steam-heated can dryer being the most prevalent on paper machines.{{cite book |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-814238-7.00005-2 |chapter=Paper Manufacture—Wet End Operation |title=Biermann's Handbook of Pulp and Paper |date=2018 |last1=Bajpai |first1=Pratima |pages=95–135 |isbn=978-0-12-814238-7 }}{{cite book |doi=10.1016/C2013-0-10000-1 |title=The Paper-Making Machine |date=1967 |isbn=978-0-08-001975-8 |last1=Clapperton |first1=R. H. }}{{pn|date=July 2024}}{{Cite book |last=Sindall |first=Robert Walter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CaVAAAAAIAAJ&q=fourdrinier+machine |title=Paper Technology: An Elementary Manual on the Manufacture, Physical Qualities and Chemical Constituents of Paper and of Paper-making Fibres |date=1906 |publisher=C. Griffin, limited |language=en}}{{pn|date=July 2024}}

Papermaking as a craft is ancient, and for centuries it used various fibers, mainly grasses (cereal straws and others), or rags from old clothing made from them, in various preindustrial times and places. The commercial planting of domesticated mulberry trees to make pulp for papermaking is attested as early as the 6th century.{{sfn|Needham|Tsuen-Hsuin|1985|p=58}} Due to advances in printing technology, the Chinese paper industry continued to grow under the Song dynasty to meet the rising demand for printed books. Demand for paper was also stimulated by the Song government, which needed a large supply of paper to print paper money and exchange certificates.{{sfn|Needham|Tsuen-Hsuin|1985|p=48}}

An example of an enterprising paper mill during the late phase of the preindustrial era is the mill by William Rittenhouse and sons at what is now preserved as Historic Rittenhouse Town in Pennsylvania.

The first mechanized paper machine was installed at Frogmore Paper Mill, Apsley, Hertfordshire in 1803, followed by another in 1804.{{cite book |last1=Hills |first1=Richard Leslie |title=Papermaking in Britain, 1488-1988: A Short History |date=1988 |publisher=Athlone Press |isbn=978-0-485-11346-4 }}{{pn|date=July 2024}} The site operates currently as a museum.{{cite web |url= http://www.thepapertrail.org.uk/|title= The Paper Trail at Frogmore Mill |publisher= Apsley Paper Trail charity|access-date=2 February 2017 }}

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the paper chemical technologies for making the pulp from wood rather than grasses underwent some major industrial-era upgrades, as first the soda pulping process and then the Kraft process helped reduce the unit cost of paper manufacture. This made paper newly abundant, and along with continual advancements in printing press technologies, as well as in transport technologies (for distribution), during these same centuries, led to greatly increased sales and circulation of newspapers, other periodicals, and books of every kind.

{{Main|Environmental impact of paper}}

The pulp and paper industry has been criticized by environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council for unsustainable deforestation and clearcutting of old-growth forest.{{Cite web|title = NRDC: Paper Industry Laying Waste to North American Forests|url = http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/tissue.asp|website = www.nrdc.org|access-date = 19 February 2016}} The industry trend is to expand globally to countries like Russia, China and Indonesia with low wages and low environmental oversight.{{Cite web|title = A crumpling paper industry|url = http://portlandtribune.com/component/content/article?id=4568|website = Oregon Local News|access-date = 19 February 2016|language = en-US}} According to Greenpeace, farmers in Central America illegally rip up vast tracts of native forest for cattle and soybean production without any consequences,{{Cite web|title = Amazon draught speeds up destruction The WE News Archives|url = http://www.thewe.cc/weplanet/news/forests/amazon_destruction_speeds_up.htm|website = www.thewe.cc|access-date = 19 February 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161225182546/http://thewe.cc/weplanet/news/forests/amazon_destruction_speeds_up.htm|archive-date = 25 December 2016|url-status = dead}} and companies who buy timber from private land owners contribute to massive deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest.{{cite news |last1=Phillips |first1=Tom |title=Brazil forms 'crisis cabinet' following unexpected deforestation surge |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/may/20/brazil-crisis-cabinet-amazon-deforestation |work=The Guardian |date=20 May 2011 }} On the other hand, the situation is quite different where forest growth has been on the increase for a number of years. It is estimated for instance that since 1990 forests have grown in Europe by 17 million hectares,{{Cite web|title=Forests — European Environment Agency|url=https://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/2015/europe/forests|access-date=2021-09-11|website=www.eea.europa.eu|language=en}} which has been supported through the practice of sustainable forest management by the industry. In Sweden, for every tree that is felled, two are planted.{{cite web|url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/opinion/lulucf-will-the-eu-turn-the-tide-on-forest-growth-in-europe-and-torpedo-its-bioeconomy-agenda/|title=Will the EU turn the tide on forest growth and torpedo its bioeconomy agenda?|work=euractiv.com|date=15 June 2017}}

The pulp and paper industry consumes a significant amount of water and energy and produces wastewater with a high concentration of chemical oxygen demand (COD), among other contaminants.{{Cite journal|last=Auer|first=Matthew R.|date=2018-12-18|title=Toxic releases from an industry in decline: Environmental trends in Maine's pulp and paper sector|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/tqem.21594|journal=Environmental Quality Management|volume=28|issue=2|language=en|pages = 31–38|doi=10.1002/tqem.21594|bibcode=2018EnvQM..28...31A |s2cid=116422861 }} Recent studies underline coagulation as an appropriate pre-treatment of pulp and paper industrial wastewater and as a cost-effective solution for the removal of COD and the reduction of pressures on the aquatic environment.{{cite journal |last1=Boguniewicz-Zablocka |first1=Joanna |last2=Klosok-Bazan |first2=Iwona |last3=Naddeo |first3=Vincenzo |last4=Mozejko |first4=Clara A. |title=Cost-effective removal of COD in the pre-treatment of wastewater from the paper industry |journal=Water Science and Technology |date=April 2020 |volume=81 |issue=7 |pages=1345–1353 |doi=10.2166/wst.2019.328 |pmid=32616687 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2020WSTec..81.1345B |hdl=11336/127959 |hdl-access=free }}

The industry is dominated by North American (United States and Canada), northern European (Finland, Sweden, and North-West Russia) and East Asian countries (such as East Siberian Russia, China, Japan, and South Korea). Australasia and Brazil also have significant pulp and paper enterprises. The industry also has a significant presence in a number of European countries including Germany, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. The United States had been the world's leading producer of paper until it was overtaken by China in 2009.{{cite web|last=De Sisti|first=Mike|title=China's Paper Operation|url=http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/china-paper-industry-trees-nursery-center-operation-tissue-technology-economy|publisher=Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting|access-date=13 April 2013|date=12 December 2012}}

According to data from Statista,

China produced 110 million metric tons in 2018 followed by the US with 72 million.{{Cite web|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/270314/production-of-paper-and-cardboard-in-selected-countries/|title=Paper and cardboard production worldwide}}

According to statistic data by RISI, main producing countries of paper and paperboard, not including pulp, in the world are as follows:{{Cite web|url=http://www.jpa.gr.jp/states/global-view/index.html#topic01|title=Japan in the World (according to the figure in Annual Review of Global Pulp and Paper Statistics by RISI)|publisher=Japan Paper Association|language=ja |access-date=15 November 2012}}

{{See also|ru:Список стран, производящих бумагу и картон}}

The world's main paper and paperboard company groups are as follows. (Some figures are estimates.):{{Cite web|url=http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/PPIS/PPIS0516/index.php?startid=29#/30|title=The PPI Top 100|publisher=RISI|access-date=2 February 2017}}

In 2008, the top 10 forest, paper and packaging products companies were, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers:{{cite web

|url=http://www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/forest-paper-packaging/pdf/global-forest-survey-2009a.pdf

|title=Global Forest, Paper & Packaging Industry Survey: 2009 Edition - Survey of 2008 Results

|publisher=PricewaterhouseCoopers

|page=12

|access-date=24 February 2011}}

File:紙パルプ会館 Japan Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry.jpg

Leading manufacturers of capital equipment with over $1 billion in annual revenue for the pulp and paper industry include:

• Valmet
• Bellmer
• Andritz
• Metso
• Voith
• Parason Machinery
• Scan Machineries
• Kadant
• Statiflo

• American Forest & Paper Association
• List of paper mills
• Converters (industry)
• Pulp and paper industry in Canada
• Pulp and paper industry in Europe
• Confederation of European Paper Industries
• Pulp and paper industry in Japan
• Pulp and paper industry in the United States
• Roll hardness tester
• Wood industry
• Forestry industry
• Environmental impact of paper

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Needham |first1=Joseph |last2=Tsuen-Hsuin |first2=Tsien |author2-link=Tsien Tsuen-hsuin |series=Science and Civilisation in China |title=Paper and Printing |date=1985 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-08690-5 }}

• [http://www.cepi.org Confederation of European Paper Industries]
• [http://www.afandpa.org/ American Forest & Paper Association] (AF&PA)
• [http://www.fpac.ca Forest Products Association of Canada] (FPAC)

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Category:Lists of countries by economic indicator

Category:Industries (economics)