Papermaking is the process of making paper, a substance which is used universally

today for writing and packaging. In papermaking a dilute suspension of fibers in water is drained through a screen, so that a mat of randomly interwoven fibres is laid down. Water is removed from this mat of fibers by pressing and drying to make paper. Since the invention of the Fourdrinier machine in the 19th century, most paper has been made from wood pulp because of cost. But other fibre sources such as cotton and textiles are used for high-quality papers. One common measure of a paper's quality is its non-woodpulp content, e.g., 25% cotton, 50% rag, etc.

History
Papermaking is known to have been traced back to China about 105 CE, when Cai Lun, an official attached to the Imperial court during the Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE), created a sheet of paper using mulberry and other bast fibres along with fishnets, old rags, and hemp waste. However a recent archaeological discovery has been reported from Gansu province of paper with legible Chinese writings on it dating from 8 BCE, while paper had been used in China for wrapping and padding since the 2nd century BCE. Paper used as a writing medium became widespread by the 3rd century, and by the 6th century toilet paper was starting to be used in China as well. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) paper was folded and sewn into square bags to preserve the flavor of tea,[3] while the later Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE) was the first government on Earth to issue paper-printed money. In the 8th century, paper spread to the Islamic world, where the rudimentary and laborious process of papermaking was refined and machinery was designed for bulk manufacturing of paper. Production began in Baghdad under the supervision of the Grand Vizier Ja'far ibn Yahya, they invented a method to make a thicker sheet of paper. This helped transform papermaking from an art into a major industry. The earliest use of water-powered mills in paper production, specifically the use of pulp mills for preparing the pulp for papermaking, dates back to Samarkand in the 8th century. The earliest references to paper mills also come from the medieval Islamic world, where they were first noted in the 9th century by Arabic geographers in Damascus. Papermaking was diffused across the Islamic world, from where it was diffused further west into Europe. Paper is recorded as being manufactured in Italy by 1220 and Germany by 1400, just about the time when the woodcut printmaking technique was transferred from fabric to paper in the old master print and popular prints. Modern papermaking began in the early 19th century in Europe with the development of the Fourdrinier machine, which produces a continuous roll of paper rather than individual sheets. These machines have become very large, up to 500 feet (~150 m) in length, producing a sheet 400 inches (~10 m) wide, and operating at speeds of over 60 mph (100 km/h). In 1844, both Canadian inventor Charles Fenerty and German inventor F.G. Keller had invented the machine and process for pulping wood for the use in papermaking. This would end the nearly 2000-year use of pulped rags and start a new era for the production of newsprint and eventually almost all paper was made out of pulped wood.

Manual papermaking
Papermaking, regardless of the scale on which it is done, involves making a dilute suspension of fibres in water and allowing this suspension to drain through a screen so that a mat of randomly interwoven fibres is laid down. Water is removed from this mat of fibres by pressing and drying to make paper. First the fibres are suspended in water to form a slurry in a large vat. The mold is a wire screen in a wooden frame (somewhat similar to an old window screen), which is used to scoop some of the slurry out of the vat. The slurry in the screen mold is sloshed around the mold until it forms a uniform thin coating. The fibres are allowed to settle and the water to drain. When the fibres have stabilized in place but are still damp, they are turned out onto a felt sheet which was generally made of an animal product such as wool or rabbit fur, and the screen mold immediately reused. Layers of paper and felt build up in a pile (called a 'post') then a weight is placed on top to press out excess water and keep the paper fibres flat and tight. The sheets are then removed from the post and hung or laid out to dry. A step-by-step procedure for making paper with readily available materials can be found online. When the paper pages are dry, they are frequently run between rollers (calendered) to produce a harder writing surface. Papers may be sized with gelatin or similar to bind the fibres into the sheet. Papers can be made with different surfaces depending on their intended purpose. Paper intended for printing or writing with ink is fairly hard, while paper to be used for water color, for instance, is heavily sized, and can be fairly soft. The wooden frame is called a "deckle". The deckle leaves the edges of the paper slightly irregular and wavy, called "deckle edges", one of the indications that the paper was made by hand. Deckle-edged paper is occasionally mechanically imitated today to create the impression of old-fashioned luxury. The impressions in paper caused by the wires in the screen that run sideways are called "laid lines" and the impressions made, usually from top to bottom, by the wires holding the sideways wires together are called "chain lines". Watermarks are created by weaving a design into the wires in the mold. This is essentially true of Oriental molds made of other substances, such as bamboo. Hand-made paper generally folds and tears more evenly along the laid lines. Hand-made paper is also prepared in laboratories to study papermaking and to check in paper mills the quality of the production process. The "handsheets" made according to TAPPI Standard T 205 are circular sheets 15.9 cm (6.25 in) in diameter and are tested on paper characteristics as paper brightness, strength, degree of sizing.

Paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine. Human and animal-powered mills

While the use of human and animal powered mills were known to Chinese and Muslim papermakers, evidence for water-powered paper mills is elusive in both of them. The general absence of the use of water-power in Muslim papermaking is suggested by the habit of Muslim authors to call a production center not a "mill", but a "paper manufactory". Although scholars have identified "paper mills" in Abbasid-era Baghdad in 794795, the evidence that waterpower was applied to papermaking at this time is a matter of scholarly debate. In the Moroccan city of Fez, Ibn Battuta speaks of "400 mill stones for paper". Since Ibn Battuta does not mention the use of water-power and such a number of water-mills would be grotesquely high, the passage is generally taken to refer to human or animal force.
Water-powered mills

An exhaustive survey of milling in Al-Andalus did not uncover a single water-powered paper mill, nor do the Spanish books of property distribution (Repartimientos) after the Christian reconquest refer to any. Arabic texts never use the term mill in connection with papermaking and the most thorough account of Muslim papermaking, the one by the Zirid Sultan Al-Muizz ibn Badis, describes the art purely in terms of a handcraft. Donald Hill has identified a possible reference to a water-powered paper mill in Samarkand, in the 11th-century work of the Persian scholar Abu Rayhan Biruni, but concludes that the passage is "too brief to enable us to say with certainty" that it refers to a water-powered paper mill. While this is seen by Halevi nonetheless as evidence of Samarkand first harnessing waterpower in the production of paper, he concedes that it is not known if waterpower was applied to papermaking elsewhere across the Islamic world at the time; Robert I. Burns remains altogether sceptical given the isolated occurrence of the reference and the prevalence of manual labour in Islamic papermaking elsewhere. Hill notes that paper mills appear in early Christian Catalonian documentation from the 1150s, which may imply Islamic origins, but here too hard evidence is lacking, and the case for early Catalan water-powered paper mills has been thoroughly dismissed after a re-examination of the evidence cited by Burns. Likewise, the identification of early hydraulic stamping mills in medieval documents from Fabriano, Italy, is completely without substance. The earliest certain evidence to a water-powered paper mill dates to 1282 in the Spanish Kingdom of Aragon. A decree by the Christian king Peter III addresses the establishment of a royal "molendinum", a proper hydraulic mill, in the paper manufacturing centre of Xtiva. The crown innovation appears to be resented by the local Muslim papermakering community; the document guarantees the Muslim subjects the right to continue their way of traditional papermaking by beating the pulp manually and grants them the right to be exempted from work in the new mill.

The first permanent paper mill north of the Alpes was established in Nuremberg by Ulman Stromer in 1390; it is later depicted in the lavishly illustrated Nuremberg Chronicle. From the mid-14th century onwards, European paper milling underwent a rapid improvement of many work processes.

Characteristics
Paper mills can be fully integrated mills or nonintegrated mills. Integrated mills consist of a pulp mill and a paper mill on the same site. Such mills receive logs or wood chips and produce paper. It is a common misconception that paper mills are sources of odors. Pulp mills and the pulping section of integrated mills (particularly if using the kraft process) commonly have associated odors; nonintegrated mills purchase wood pulp, usually in dry bales known as market pulp, and produce little, if any, odor. The modern paper mill uses large amounts of energy, water, and wood pulp in a highly efficient and extremely complex series of processes, using modern and sophisticated controls technology to produce a sheet of paper that can be used in incredibly diverse ways. Modern paper machines are very large and can be 500 feet (~150 m) in length, produce a sheet 400 inches (~10 m) wide, and operate at speeds of more than 60 mph (100 km/h). The two main suppliers of paper machines are Metso and Voith.

Paper size
Many paper size standards conventions have existed at different times and in different countries. Today there is one widespread international ISO standard (including A4, B3, C4, etc.) and a localised standard used in North America (including letter, legal, ledger, etc.). The paper sizes affect writing paper, stationery, cards, and some printed documents. The standards also have related sizes for envelopes.

The international standard: ISO 216

The international paper size standard, ISO 216, is based on the German DIN 476 standard for paper sizes. ISO paper sizes are all based on a single aspect ratio of square root of 2, or approximately 1:1.4142. The base A0 size of paper is defined to have an area of one m. With this definition and the given aspect ratio of square root of two, one can calculate the sides of an A0 sheet as follows: The long side is 1 metre multiplied by the square root of the square root (that is, the fourth root) of 2 and the short side is 1 metre divided by the same. Rounded to millimetres, the A0 paper size is 841 by 1,189 millimetres (33.1 46.8 in). Successive paper sizes in the series A1, A2, A3, and so forth, are defined by halving the preceding paper size along the larger dimension. The most frequently used paper size is A4 (210 297 mm).

The significant advantage of this system is its scaling: if a sheet with an aspect ratio of is divided into two equal halves parallel to its shortest sides, then the halves will again have an aspect ratio of . Folded brochures of any size can be made by using sheets of the next larger size, e.g. A4 sheets are folded to make A5 brochures. The system allows scaling without compromising the aspect ratio from one size to anotheras provided by office photocopiers, e.g. enlarging A4 to A3 or reducing A3 to A4. Similarly, two sheets of A4 can be scaled down and fit exactly 1 sheet without any cutoff or margins. Weights are easy to calculate as well: a standard A4 sheet made from 80 gram/m paper weighs 5 grams (as it is one 16th of an A0 page, measuring 1 m), allowing one to easily compute the weightand associated postage rateby counting the number of sheets used. The advantages of basing a paper size upon an aspect ratio of were already noted in 1786 by the German scientist and philosopher Georg Christoph Lichtenberg.[1] Early in the 20th century, Dr Walter Porstmann turned Lichtenberg's idea into a proper system of different paper sizes. Porstmann's system was introduced as a DIN standard (DIN 476) in Germany in 1922, replacing a vast variety of other paper formats. Even today the paper sizes are called "DIN A4" in everyday use in Germany and Austria. The term Lichtenberg ratio has recently been proposed for this paper aspect ratio. The main disadvantage of the system is type does not scale the same way; therefore, when a page is resized, the type set on it loses legibility as the proportion between the type's x-height, page margins, and leading are distorted. When trim is involved, as in the manufacture of books, ISO 216 sizes are generally too tall and narrow for book production (see: Canons of page construction). The distortion is even more pronounced with printed sheet music. European book publishers typically use metricated traditional page sizes for book production.

ISO paper sizes (plus rounded inch values) Format A series B series C series Size mm mm in in mm mm in in mm mm in in 841 1189 33.11 46.81 1000 1414 39.37 55.67 917 1297 36.10 51.06 0 594 x 841 23.39 33.11 707 1000 27.83 39.37 648 917 25.51 36.10 1 420 594 16.54 23.39 500 707 19.69 27.83 458 648 18.03 25.51 2 297 420 11.69 16.54 353 500 13.90 19.69 324 458 12.76 18.03 3 210 297 8.27 11.69 250 353 9.84 13.90 229 324 9.02 12.76 4 148 210 5.83 8.27 176 250 6.93 9.84 162 229 6.38 9.02 5 105 148 4.13 5.83 125 176 4.92 6.93 114 162 4.49 6.38 6 74 105 2.91 4.13 88 125 3.46 4.92 81 114 3.19 4.49 7 52 74 2.05 2.91 62 88 2.44 3.46 57 81 2.24 3.19 8 37 52 1.46 2.05 44 62 1.73 2.44 40 57 1.57 2.24 9 1.02 1.46 31 44 1.22 1.73 28 40 1.10 1.57 10 26 37

The Full paper making process

Timber
Timber used for papermaking comes from well managed forests where more trees are planted than harvested to ensure sustainable growth. Papermakers usually use only the parts of the tree that other commercial industries don't want - such as saw mill waste and forest thinnings.

De-Barker
Bark is stripped from the logs by knife, drum, abrasion, or hydraulic barker. The stripped bark is then used for fuel or as soil enrichment.

Chipping Machine
Stripped logs are chipped into small pieces by knives mounted in massive steel wheels (used in chemical pulping process). The chips pass through vibrating screens, whereby both undersized chips, dust etc and oversized chips are rejected. Accepted chips are then stored in huge bins ready for the next process.

Chemical Pulping Process

Chips from the storage bins are fed into a digester to which chemicals have been added. The woodchips are then 'cooked' to remove lignin. Lignin is the binding material which holds the cellulose fibres together. The chips are 'cooked' by heat and pressure in caustic soda and sulphur. The chemical process is energy self-sufficient as nearly all by-products can be used to fire the pulp mill power plant. The chemical pulping process produces lower fibre yield than mechanical pulping, typically 50-60%.

Mechanical Pulping Process

Mechanical pulp yields over 90% of the wood as fiber is produced by forcing debarked logs, about two meters long, and hot water between enormous rotating steel discs with teeth that literally tear the wood apart. Alternatively, logs can be pressed against grindstones which is why this process is also known as ground wood pulp. Trees contain up to 30% lignin, a material which is sensitive to light and degrades, and turns brown in sunlight, which explains why papers made from mechanical pulp will discolor. An example of this is newsprint. Newsprint is designed to have a short life span, and if left for a long period of time will lose its whiteness and strength. The special advantages of mechanical pulp are that it makes the paper opaque and bulky.

Hydrapulper
When the bales of wood pulp or waste paper arrive at the paper mill they are loaded onto a conveyor and passed into a circular tank containing water. This has a very powerful agitator at the bottom which breaks up the bales into small pieces. The pulp mass created begins to look like thick porridge. This machine is known as a Hydrapulper. It operates automatically and when the disintegrating process is complete it discharges the pulp into large storage tanks. Hydrapulpers used mainly for handling waste paper are fitted with special devices for removing unwanted contraries such as wire, plastic, paper clips, staples etc.

Blend Chest
The stock passes to a blend chest where numerous chemicals can be added to obtain the required characteristics to the finished paper. Dyes are also added, as necessary, to color the paper. Dyes fix themselves to the cellulose fibers and are fast to light and water. Each grade of paper and board requires a very accurate blend of pulps and additives and the properties of the paper are continually monitored by computers during manufacture.

Waste Paper
Waste paper is collected from Waste Paper Banks and Commercial collections. When you deposit your used papers into a waste paper bank, you are sorting the paper into grades before the merchant collects it. This is why you can only put certain papers into a particular bank. Many offices have in place an office recycling scheme. Again the waste paper is usually segregated ready to be collected. Waste paper currently represents 67% of the raw material used in the UK to make paper and board. The waste paper merchant collects the used paper which is then sorted by hand into different grades. Paper not suitable for recycling is removed. The waste paper merchant will then bale the waste paper ready to be taken to the paper mill.

De-inking
Before printed paper, such as office waste and newspapers, can be recycled the ink needs to be removed, otherwise it will be dispersed into the pulp and a dull grey paper would result. There are two main processes for de-inking waste paper - these are known as washing and flotation. Washing The waste paper is placed into a pulper with large quantities of water and broken down into a slurry. Contraries -such as staples - are removed using centrifugal screens. Most of the water containing the dispersed ink is drained through slots or screens that allow the

dispersed ink particles through, without taking the pulp. Adhesive particles, known as 'stickies' are removed by fine screening. Flotation Again the waste is made into a slurry and contaminants removed. Special surfactant chemicals are added which makes a sticky froth on the top of the pulp. Air bubbles are blown through the pulp and these carry the inks to the surface. As the bubbles reach the top a foam layer is formed that traps the ink. The foam must be removed before the bubbles break or the ink will go back into the pulp. Because the ink is removed from the flotation machine in a concentrated form, the flotation system does not require a large water treatment plant.

Refining
This is where the cellulose fibers pass through a refining process which is vital in the art of papermaking. Before refining, the fibers are stiff, inflexible and form few bonds. The stock is pumped through a conicle machine which consists of a series of revolving discs. The violent abrasive and bruising action has the effect of cutting, opening up and declustering the fibers and making the ends divide. This is called fibrillation. In this state, the fibers are pliable and have greater surface area, which significantly improves the fiber bonding. The properties of the paper are directly related to the refining process. Refining used to be called beating.

Screening and Cleaning

Pulps contain undesirable fibrous and non-fibrous materials, which should be removed before the pulp is made into paper or board. Cleaning involves removing small particles of dirt and grit using rotating screens and centrifugal cleaners.

Papermaking Machine

The Paper Machine is a very large piece of machinery. A typical machine is about the length of two football pitches and around 4 metres wide. It can run up to speeds of 2000 m per minute - or 60 miles per hour! The machine itself consists of 7 distinct sections. The flow box, wire, press section, drier section, size press, calendar and reeling up. The first section of the machine is called the 'Wet End'. This is where the diluted stock first comes into contact with the paper machine. It is poured onto the machine by the flow box which is a collecting box for the dilute paper stock. A narrow apperture running across the width of the box allows the stock to flow onto the wire with the fibres distributed evenly over the whole width of the paper machine. The machine is operated by computer control. The computer will monitor the paper for moisture content, weight etc and computer screens will show pictures of the process and should any adjustments need to be made, an alarm will sound.

Conversion and Printing

Once the paper is made, a great deal of it is converted into a product. Converters specialize in transforming reels and sheets of paper and board into a vast array of finished products for distribution such as boxes, cartons and stationery. Converters sell their products to the public or to other manufacturers. Not all paper and board is processed by converters. Some papermakers do their own converting, for example, the manufacturers of soft tissues market their own products and sell directly to the public. The printing industry converts large quantities of paper and board, much of which reaches the customer as newspapers, magazines or books.