Paper is a long-used and very well-known material. A lot of things are connected with paper in human life: from cosmetics, wrappers and packaging. To books and other items used every day. And, as you know, paper is made from wood.
This wonderful material first appeared in China, where the first paper production methods were developed, although in ancient times there were no such powerful technological solutions as now. At present, the process may seem very interesting, so it is worth considering it in more detail.
Materials such as paper are now produced in specialized paper mills, where cut trees are supplied for further processing. The basis of paper is cellulose, which is obtained from certain forest species. Thus, the machines strip the bark from the trees and grind the wood fibers into small chips, or even flour.
After grinding, the flour is mixed with water and heat-treated, then pressed and smoothed into very thin sheets. This results in low-grade, but cleaner paper. This method, although economical, allows the production of low-grade paper, which is most often called newsprint.
To obtain higher quality paper, cellulose is treated with special chemical materials. This paper is already suitable for use in books, notebooks and other printed purposes.
To produce quality paper, wood material sorted by size and various chemicals are added to it, after which it is boiled, and then washed and filtered so that there are no impurities in the raw material.
After cooking, the raw materials are pressed, rolled out and smoothed, and then dried at high temperature so that the fibers take the required form and froze, forming paper itself. Thus, the result is a roll of tape rather than sheets. But in the future, the rolls are subject to cutting and further preparation. Additional preparation may include further glossing of the paper, painting and other procedures.
Also, paint or special admixtures may be used during production. This is what distinguishes paper by quality, grade and other properties. The types of paper produced are book, newspaper, offset, packaging, and so on.
As it may seem, paper production is very simple. But in reality, it's complicated technological process, which requires special machines and devices, as well as the presence of a huge number of people who monitor the production and operation of the machines. In general, paper production is a very interesting process.
Paper has become so firmly established in our lives that when using it, we do not think about its origin and production. Although every person knows what paper is made from. But the process of turning a tree into thin white leaves is not known to many. So how is paper made?
Paper production is carried out by the paper and pulp industry. The most common is its production from wood. Wood pulp is produced from forest trees. In order to understand how they do it, let’s take a virtual tour of the factory.
Raw materials arrive there in unprocessed form. Here the bark is stripped from the tree and then crushed into chips using special machines. Next there are some papers. The simplest mechanical one. With this method, crushed wood chips are mixed with water and further processed. The result is paper of not very high quality, which is used for publishing newspapers. In order to obtain raw materials of good, high quality, a chemical production method is used. With this method, chips are selected by size and boiled. This process occurs using acid in machines specially designed for this purpose. After cooking, the resulting mass is washed and foreign substances are removed. The resulting raw materials are subjected to further processing to produce a specific
In order to obtain it, glue is added to the raw material. This gives it a water-repellent effect. Resins added during the production process prevent the ink from bleeding and make the writing easy to read. Paper intended for printing does not require such additives because the inks used for it are not water-based.
To make paper white and opaque, the raw materials are colored with special dyes and pigments. After all operations have been completed, the process of producing raw materials begins. The machines move the resulting slurry from one shaft to another, on which a mesh is stretched. In this case, a paper sheet is formed. The water that was in the raw material gradually flows out through the holes in the mesh. The fibers intertwine and form rolls. Next, the canvas undergoes a series of operations, which results in the paper that we are used to having in our everyday life. The rollers through which the raw canvas passes are pressed, dried and polished. After this, it is further pressed and dried. The output is paper rolls, which are used for their intended purpose. They are cut or sent in rolls for further use. In the process of making paper, many special machines are used. All labor is mechanized. But, nevertheless, this is very valuable material. Therefore, knowing what and how paper is made from, you begin to treat it more carefully. After all, 17 trees are needed to produce 1 ton of paper.
Previously, a massive collection of waste paper was organized in the country. After cleaning from ink, it is added to paper raw materials during the production process. Paper is a necessary attribute modern life. It’s even hard to imagine that its first inventors were the Chinese. For a long time they did not discover the secret of how paper was made.
Paper is used in various areas of our lives. Napkins, notebooks, books, toys, wallpaper, and money are made from it. It is perhaps impossible to list the entire list of where paper is used. In some cases, it is simply irreplaceable and is the only suitable material. New ones are opening up more and more possibilities for its application.
WHAT IS THE ARTICLE ABOUT?
What is paper made from?
The basis for paper production is cellulose and water. Cellulose fibers are obtained from plant materials. Most often it is wood, but straw, cotton and waste paper are also used. After obtaining cellulose fibers, they are straightened and bleached, and the entire mass is dried and smoothed. Dyes are also added to produce colored paper. The paper is wound into rolls and cut. Next we will talk in more detail about each stage of paper making.
To obtain cellulose fibers, wood goes a long way. Firstly, only certain types of wood are suitable for this. Most often these are spruce, pine, poplar and birch. Eucalyptus, reed and chestnut are sometimes used.
Factory production
The wood processing process begins with debarking, that is, getting rid of the bark. The logs are loaded into a special drum, which has a rough surface with projections. One batch spins in it for about 20 minutes, after which the bark is burned.
The debarked wood is transferred to a conveyor, along which it falls into special saws, which chop it into approximately equal fragments, called chips. Wood chips can be stored for a long time.
The chip processing process begins with washing. After which it is crushed into dust. It is then subjected to alkaline treatment. This happens in large vats of water and chemicals in which to cook for a long time. This is done to destroy the bond between cellulose fibers, which are a kind of natural glue. The entire mixture is filtered and washed thoroughly. After which various fillers, impregnations, and dyes are added to it. The substances depend on the type of future paper.
The result is a finished cellulose mixture, which consists of 99% water. The resulting mass is fed into a paper-making machine. First of all, the cellulose mixture falls onto a moving mesh with very small cells that only allow water to pass through. After which the wet paper web falls onto a felt belt, then onto cylindrical presses, as a result of which the amount of water is significantly reduced.
The next stage, after which only a few percent of water remains, is drying. The canvas is driven through heated rotating drums, due to which it stands out a large number of moisture and the mass dries.
Time of the final paper production process. It is fed onto heated and polished heavy rollers called calenders. Between them, the paper layer is compressed with great force, as a result of which it becomes completely dry and smooth.
Then the paper is rolled into large rolls, for example, rolls for preparing A4 sheets weigh about 35 tons and will contain 50 kilometers of paper. To make office paper, the spools are cut into smaller ones and sent to paper cutting devices. On these automated devices, production speeds reach 55,000 sheets per minute. And in an hour such a factory produces about 7,000 packages.
How paper is made from waste paper.
The principle of producing paper from waste paper remains the same - it is the production of cellulose. The technology for producing paper from waste paper differs from the production of paper from plant raw materials only up to the point of obtaining cellulose fibers from the source material.
The first step is to load the waste paper into a hydrobeater, which works on the principle of a kitchen blender. Under the influence of a mechanical process and water, waste paper is separated into fibers and turned into liquid paper pulp. Next, a chemical process occurs to separate the ink and impurities. The subsequent manufacturing process is identical to any other raw material. Substances are added, sent to the paper machine, rolled and cut.
In China in 105 AD, however, in the mid-twentieth century, more ancient tombs were discovered, where small fragments were found.
In those ancient times, it was made from silk, using rejected cocoons for production. silkworm. Nowadays, of course, such expensive materials are not used - anything that contains long fibers is suitable, and this is cellulose, rags, already used paper, and some types of textiles. Mixing with water, they form a plastic mass - raw materials.
History of the development of paper technology
So, the first stage of creating paper is preparing the paper pulp. For the inventor of the technology, Cai Lun, it was a mixture of silk fibers, ash, hemp and rags, carefully crushed and mixed with water. He laid it out on the form and dried it on. For a long time, this manual production method remained the only one - only the ingredients changed.
In the 17th century, a roll was invented - a mechanism that grinded raw materials automatically and therefore could produce much more paper pulp. But the sheets themselves were still formed manually, using molds, so the volumes of the resulting products remained low.
Finally, at the very end of the 18th century, in 1799, in France they figured out how to make paper casting automatic - N. Robert used a moving grid for this purpose. Seven years later, a full-fledged paper-making machine was patented in England. Since that time, the scale of production has increased significantly.
Paper production stages
Like many centuries ago, paper production begins with
1) Preparation of paper pulp.
This includes not only grinding the components in rolls (refiners, mills) and mixing them. Many auxiliary substances are added to modern paper to improve its properties. 
The so-called sizing occurs - means are added so that the fibers stick together better, and the paper itself is not so afraid of water. These are alumina, rosin glue, paraffin emulsion.
To increase rigidity, starch, formaldehyde resins, and animal glue are added to the mass. Mineral fillers like chalk or talc help make the paper smoother. Aniline dyes are added for bleaching. The composition and quantity of additional additives is determined by the purpose for which it will be used. final product.
2) Production of paper pulp.
When the paper pulp is ready, it must be cleaned of contaminants and diluted with water. Special equipment copes with this - vortex and centrifugal cleaners, sandbox. From the preparatory department, the pump pumps it into the stirring basin, and from there it goes to the paper making machine.
The raw material flows in a continuous stream onto the mesh. In this part of the machine, the web is cast, dewatered and begins to compact. But there is still a lot of water; it continues to be removed in the press part.
The liquid finally disappears from the sheets in the drying section, evaporating when the sheet is pressed against the heated cylinders. After this, it goes to the reeling mechanisms, where it is wound into huge rolls. The paper is ready for the next stage.
3) Final processing.
The resulting paper web is not yet completely uniform in thickness. To level it, make it smoother and denser, it is passed through calands, that is, metal shafts. Now the paper can be sorted, cut and packaged - it is completely ready. 
This is how crushed tree bark, scraps and sawdust of wood, scraps of paper, rags and straw - things that are not the most beautiful and look, frankly speaking, not very aesthetically pleasing, when passed from one workshop to another, from unit to unit, from machine to machine, turn into into smooth white sheets.
The history of the appearance of paper dates back to the third millennium BC.
How it all began
The ancient Egyptians discovered a plant on the banks of rivers, papyrus, from which the writing material of the same name was made. Its trunks were cut into thin strips, folded in several layers lengthwise and crosswise, compressed under a heavy load and left to dry in the sun. Thus, flexible sheets were obtained, which were cut to specific sizes, polished and glued into scrolls. This was the first writing material that has survived to this day.
In the 2nd century, the production of papyrus was replaced by the production of paper, more similar to the one we use today. The inventors of the first paper technology are the Chinese. The raw material was the waste of silkworm cocoons, but due to their insufficient quantity, they switched to hemp nettle. The paper made from it was not of high quality: the sheets were different in thickness, rough and uneven, which was the reason to abandon this technology. To improve production, they took a different direction: mulberry bast. The quality of the paper made from it was several orders of magnitude higher, and the manufacturing secret itself was kept in the strictest confidence. But time passed, and this secret became clear, passed on to the Arabs and, from them, spread throughout the world.
At the beginning of the 13th century, the first paper mill appeared in Europe, and by the end of the 17th century, its production began in Russia.
New stage of development
Due to the fact that nothing in this world stands still, there was a shortage of raw materials for production, and more and more paper was required. This was the reason for the search for new technologies. For the first time, wood, or more precisely, wood pulp produced from it, began to be used to make paper. All types of trees, both soft and hard, are suitable for obtaining this raw material.
If you carefully examine a piece of paper through a microscope, you can tell with almost certainty what kind of wood the paper is made from for certain purposes.
For example, wrapping paper not only has a certain strength, but is also rough. It is made from soft wood species, such as pine, cedar, spruce. But here interesting fact. Paper made from Canadian spruce has all the qualities of strength, but the advantage is its elasticity.
Maple and oak belong to hard rocks wood, but paper made from them is less durable. But, due to the fact that it has a smooth surface, it is used for typographic printing.
But if you mix pine and oak derivatives and carry out a series of chemical transformations, you can get a high-quality, durable and elastic sheet from which a book is made.