Server: Netscape-Commerce/1.1 Date: Friday, 21-Nov-97 00:11:28 GMT Last-modified: Wednesday, 11-Jun-97 20:50:16 GMT Content-length: 4509 Content-type: text/html How Paper is made
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watering plant In one year, each American uses an average of 749 pounds of paper products - here's how all that paper is made.
make paper1 1. Many of the trees used in paper making are grown and harvested like crops on tree 'farms'. To ensure the demand for paper and other forest products is met, companies and landowners plant on average millions of tree seedlings everyday, helping to ensure the sustainability of this renewable resource.
2. The paper-making process begins with the debarking of the logs. The logs are then sent through a series of chippers equipped with whirling blades, which break them down into smaller and smaller pieces. The tiny fragments are then pressure cooked with chemicals in a large vat called a digester to separate the fibers. At this point, recovered fibers are often added to the pulp. make paper2
3. In the final stage of preparation, the wood pulp is cleaned, refined, bleached, and run through a series of beaters until it is a fine slush. At this point fillers and other additives can be mixed in. When preparation is complete, the slush is pumped onto a fast-moving wire screen where it will start to become a continuous sheet of paper. make paper3
make paper4 4. As water is removed from the forming paper, it is pumped into purifiers where the chemicals and particles are removed before it is returned to a stream or river. The chemicals and particles can be burned to provide additional power for the paper mill.
make paper5 5. As the slush travels down the screen, excess water is drained away leaving a crude paper sheet called web. The web is then squeezed between rollers to remove remaining water and ensure uniform thickness and smoothness. Finally, the web is run through a series of heated rollers to remove any remaining water. The finished paper is spooled onto 'parent rolls', which can be 30 feet wide and weigh 25 tons. The parent rolls are run through a machine called a slitter which cuts them into smaller, more manageable rolls. Now the paper is ready to be shipped for use by a variety of businesses for products we all use everyday.


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