Newsprint Production Research Articles

Assessing life-cycle GHG emissions of recycled paper products under imported solid waste ban in China: A case study

Changes of raw materials in China's recycled paper industry after the imported solid waste ban affect products' life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well. This paper presented a case study of newsprint production with prior- and post-ban scenarios with life cycle assessment, including using imported waste paper (P0) and its three substitutions, i.e., virgin pulp (P1), domestic waste paper (P2), and imported recycled pulp (P3). The function unit is 1 ton of newsprint produced in China, and the study is conducted from cradle to grave which consists pulping and papermaking process, from raw material acquisition to manufacturing, with associated energy production and wastewater treatment, transport, and chemicals production. Our results showed that P1 holds the highest life-cycle GHG emission of 2724.91, followed by 2400.88 from P3. P2 has the lowest emission of 1619.27, only slightly lower than 1742.39 before the ban using route P0 (unit: kgCO2e/ton paper). Scenario analysis showed that current average life-cycle GHG emission for one ton of newsprint is 2049.33 kgCO2e, increased by 17.62 % due to the ban, while this number could be reduced to 12.22 % or even −0.79 % if switching from P1 to P3 and P2. Our study highlighted the importance of domestic waste paper as a promising way to reduce GHG emissions, which still has great potential to increase if with an enhanced waste paper recycling system in China.

Investigating the possibility of using recycled magazine paper in the production of newsprint with the aim of proper management of paper waste

In recent yr. due to reduced ligneous resources, increased demand for paper products, increased environmental concerns that are made from virgin papers production, and high volume of waste papers, the need for recycling of papers is felt more than ever. One of the important steps in the process of recycling paper is the deinking of waste papers. The purpose of this study is the deinking of the old magazine papers in order to produce newsprint. In the review, old magazine papers were deinked by Flotation method using: Sodium hydroxide (1%), Sodium silicate (2%), Hydrogen peroxide (1%), and DTPA (1%). Then they were bleached with an amount of Hydrogen peroxide (1/5%). 60 grams of paper was made under standard conditions for testing. Then the brightness of handmade papers was measured in three replicates. The result showed that the brightness of non-deinked papers was about 40%, after deinking, it was about 50%, and after bleaching, it was increased to about 60%. Results indicate that the use of Hydrogen peroxide and its derivatives in bleaching of waste papers are resulted in increasing brightness in several percent. By combining pulp prepared from recycled magazine paper with CMP pulp prepared from a broadleaf species, the results showed that the addition of deinked OMG significantly reduced the brightness of the control sample. Also, adding deinked magazine paper in any proportion to the mixture of imported CMP pulp and long fiber pulp (by increasing the opacity) improves the quality of the printed paper obtained. This recycled paper can be used in production papers that are used temporary and do not need high resistance (such as newsprints).

The International Materiality of Domestic Information: The Geopolitics of Newsprint During World War II and the Cold War

In the first half of the twentieth century, as newspapers were the most important means of communicating information about current events, Canada became the world’s leading producer of newsprint. Its neighbor, the United States, was its leading consumer and the top global newsprint consumer. European countries depended substantially on Scandinavian newsprint production, and many countries around the world lacked domestic resources to make paper. By 1940, some 60% of the newsprint used around the world crossed an international border as it moved from paper manufacturer to newspaper publisher, and more than 90% of that came from Canada. Even in peacetime, printing a newspaper in the mid-twentieth century was a geopolitical challenge. Once World War II broke out, outside of North America paper supplies were significantly constrained as import flows were disrupted. The US and the Canadians partnered to distribute newsprint around the world to papers deemed ‘friendly’ to Allied interests in Latin America, and this practice of strategically disbursing newsprint continued into the early Cold War period and extended to Europe. At the same time, the United Nations understood global newsprint shortages to be one of the primary impediments to promoting postwar democratization and development efforts, and the organization sought ways of encouraging both a more equitable global distribution of newsprint and projects that would enable countries in the Global South to manufacture paper from raw materials that were domestically available. In the World War II and Cold War era, newsprint was the material precondition for press freedom, and the US and Canada held tremendous sway over regional and local public spheres as their policymakers decided where and to whom that newsprint was to be distributed.

Use of Modified Acasia arabica Tree Bark Substrate for the Adsorption of Ni (II) From Aqueous Solution

Salt of various metals and other potentially dangerous are being discharged in to the aquatic environment, water containing vital concentration of some of the heavy metal ions are harmful to human being, animal as well as aquatic organism. The toxicity of some heavy metal ions even at the trace level has been recognized with respect to public health for many years. Metals such as Mercury, Lead, Cadmium, Copper, Nickel and Chromium are under this category. Many metals have been evaluated as harmful to aquatic life above certain toxicity level. Many industries may have specific waste problem where the particular metal is an integral part of the many manufacturing process. Notable examples are the high zinc waste of viscosity Rayon manufacturing ground wood pulp production and News print production. Adsorption has been proved to be an excellent way to treat industrial waste effluents, offering significant advantages like the low-cost availability, profitability, ease of operation and efficiency comparative to activated carbon. The Acasia arabica tree bark substrate was found to have good sorption capacity for Nickel. Studies indicate that the sorption of Ni (II) increases with the increase in pH value and contact time, 30minute was found to be optimum. The effect of concentration shows that the Acasia arabica can remove Ni (II) ions from aqueous solutions, the concentration of metal ions increases adsorption decreases.

74‐2: Development of a Novel Reflective Display System with Multi‐primary Color for Digital Signage

We have developed four primary‐color reflective LCD and have improved yellow and red color saturation. The color gamut area of the developed LCD meets to the standard for printing (SNAP) which is defined for reproduction quality in newsprint production. The developed LCD has also a wide color gamut, wide operating‐temperature range and high‐quality moving images. It is suitable to realize future digital signage for outdoors.

Deinking process water flotation: An innovative solution to improve deinking and papermaking processes efficiency

High and uncontrolled surface active substances (SAS) concentrations in deinking line process waters strongly disturb flotation deinking. Indeed, their adsorption at air/water and ink/water interfaces stabilizes air bubbles and ink particles, reducing ink collection during flotation. In addition, foam stabilization promoted by SAS reduces froth drainage and consequently enhances suspended solids losses. All in all, selectivity of flotation is negatively affected by excessive SAS concentrations. Floating process water with adapted technology, a patented solution, is an efficient way to decrease SAS concentration and thereby recover flotation deinking selectivity. This concept was tested at industrial scale with success. First loop clear filtrates of a deinked pulp line (for newsprint production) were floated. At steady state, this treatment allows a 20% reduction of the SAS concentration in first loop process water. Evaluation of ink removal selectivity at pre-flotation and post-flotation showed a significant improvement in comparison with reference values. During the trial, the mill could either produce pulp with lower ink content and consequently higher brightness (50 ppm effective residual ink concentration [ERIC] less, corresponding to a 1 brightness point increase) for similar losses, or similar pulp quality with 1% to 2% yield improvement, representing a huge cost reduction. In addition, beneficial side effects were reported, such as reduced deinking chemicals consumption (soda, silicate, and bleaching agents) and better paper machine runnability, especially in terms of stickies breaks.

The rise and fall of the Canadian pulp and paper sector

The Canadian pulp and paper sector grew from a newsprint production centre to feed the United States newspaper industry to become one of the most significant pulp and paper manufacturing centres in the world, especially in mechanical pulp and paper products. Despite its size it has never broken completely free from its U.S. roots. Recent changes in the U.S. markets, coupled with trade globalization, and increased competition from other producing regions have led to significant change in the Canadian sector since 2000. Looking out over the next ten years, trends are expected to persist and present numerous challenges to the Canadian pulp and paper products industries and dependent industries.

Evaluation of life cycle inventory data for recycling systems

This paper reviews databases on material recycling (primary as well as secondary production) used in life cycle assessments (LCA) of waste management systems. A total of 366 datasets, from 1980 to 2010 and covering 14 materials, were collected from databases and reports. Totals for CO2-equivalent emissions were compared to illustrate variations in the data. It was hypothesised that emissions from material production and the recycling industry had decreased over time due to increasing regulation, energy costs and process optimisation, but the reported datasets did not reveal such a general trend. Data representing the same processes varied considerably between databases, and proper background information was hard to obtain, which in turn made it difficult to explain the large differences observed. Those differences between the highest and lowest estimated CO2 emissions (equivalents) from the primary production of newsprint, HDPE and glass were 238%, 443% and 452%, respectively. For steel and aluminium the differences were 1761% and 235%, respectively. There is a severe lack of data for some recycled materials; for example, only one dataset existed for secondary cardboard. The study shows that the choice of dataset used to represent the environmental load of a material recycling process and credited emissions from the avoided production of virgin materials is crucial for the outcome of an LCA on waste management. Great care and a high degree of transparency are mandatory, but advice on which datasets to use could not be determined from the study. However, from the gathered data, recycling in general showed lower emission of CO2 per kg material than primary production, so the recycling of materials (considered in this study) is thus beneficial in most cases.

Evaluating the impact of recycled fiber content on effluent recycling in newsprint manufacture

This paper investigates the effect of using recycled fiber (RCF) in newsprint production on the effluent quality and its treatability using membrane operations for internal and external recycling and reuse. Increased chemical usage in RCF for deinking had significant impact on the silica and sodium content of the effluent which in turn limits the membrane’s operation. Increasing the RCF content from 0% to 50% is estimated to increase the silica content from 4 to 119mgL−1 and sodium content from 135 to 500mgL−1. A process model was developed to calculate the impact of these excess chemicals on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and brine disposal for an integrated membrane plant design producing 4MLday−1 of recycled water. As the ratio of RCF increased from 0% to 50% in the mill process, the operating pressure increased for nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO). Additionally, organics presence in the feed increased the NF operating pressure above the simulated value and reduced the silica removal efficiency by 15%. Incorporation of lime coagulation pretreatment was found to be essential to operate RO at high recoveries with relatively GHG emissions. Without pretreatment, as RCF content increased from 0% to 50%, RO recovery decreased from 80% to 22% and the expended GHG increased from 0.9 to 3.5kgCO2m−3. Although the excess sodium concentration limits the brine disposal for irrigation purposes, a partial blending of the treated wastewater with other process streams resulted in the reduction of sodium absorption ratio by 20%.

Optimization of the Properties of Poplar and Willow Chemimechanical Pulps by a Mixture Design of Juvenile and Mature Wood

Forest plantations of Salicaceae (poplars and willows) in Argentina are mainly used for the manufacture of pulp for newsprint. The rapid growth of these species results in a decrease in rotation age, which increases the proportion of juvenile wood. The aim of this work was to define the proportions of juvenile wood (JW) and mature wood (MW) of these species that can optimize the mechanical and optical properties of chemimechanical pulps for newsprint production. A two-component mixture type experimental design was used with proportions (JW:MW) of 0:100%, 25:75%, 50:50%, 75:25%, and 100:0%. When the mechanical properties were optimized, the highest desirability function was obtained with a JW:MW ratio of 100:0%, and the optimal ratio for optical properties was 0:100%. The pattern of variation of mechanical properties can be attributed to the higher density of MW, whilst that of the optical properties can be attributed to the higher content of extractives in the JW.

Effect of partially substituting MgO for NaOH on bleaching of pine (Pinus massoniana) thermomechanical pulp

Bleached thermomechanical pulp (TMP) has been applied in the production of newsprint and supercalendered (SC) paper or other paper products. Recent studies on the alkaline peroxide bleaching with magnesium-based alkalis indicated that the bulk and optical properties can be improved, and effluent load can be reduced. In this work, MgO was partially used in alkaline peroxide bleaching process of pine (Pinus massoniana) TMP to investigate the effect of MgO substitution for NaOH on the pulp properties and effluent characteristics. The present research showed that partial substitution of MgO for NaOH could decrease the dissolution of chemical components in pulp fibers, thus, improving the pulp yield and decreasing the effluent load. When the substitution percentage of MgO for NaOH increased from 0% to 50% at 3.5% alkali charge, the bulk of the bleached pine TMP increased from 3.45cm3/g to 3.69cm3/g, while the opacity was improved from 84.7% to 89.1%, the cationic demand and CODCr of the effluent decreased by 31% and 22%, respectively. However, the MgO substitution had decreased the brightness and tensile index of the bleached TMP.

Time Variations of Macrostickies and Extractable Stickies Concentrations in Deinking

The stickies content, both macrostickies and stickies extractable in a solvent, was determined for samples taken at short time intervals from deinking lines, producing deinked pulp for newsprint production. The study was carried out at three mills on different continents, with each having a different source of recycled paper as raw material. The short-term variations in extractable stickies in the incoming raw material were quite extreme, with differences of 100% being seen within hours. Despite this, the final deinked pulp contained fewer sudden variations and had no correlation to the incoming stickies content. While the raw material appeared to affect the incoming stickies content, a well-optimized deinking line was able to buffer the raw material variability, and the final stickies content was more dependent on the deinking process. This result was seen for the two mills examined for this phenomenon, despite a different raw material supply. Macrostickies were found to exhibit the same tendencies, although with smaller and less sudden variations. However, the variations of macrostickies and extractable stickies never correlated, even when both were measured for the same pulp fraction, thus confirming that solvent extraction is not an appropriate method for the determination of macrostickies and is more a reflection of microstickies.

Bad aim: Separating the intentions and effects of American newsprint recycling legislation on landfill space, forest conservation and Canadian newsprint producers

This paper argues that the American newsprint recycling laws passed during the late 1980s and early 1990s not only failed to achieve their stated environmental objectives, but failed so spectacularly that they actually contributed to further environmental harm. These laws, which imposed a recycled content standard on new newsprint production, had three intentions: to decrease landfill space requirements, to preserve forests, and to encourage the recycling of used newsprint. Insofar as the first two intentions are concerned, this paper finds that the American newsprint recycling laws had a negligible effect on both landfill space and forest conservation. But by succeeding in elevating the amount of newsprint recycling far beyond what it would otherwise be, industry compliance with these laws may have actually increased environmental harm. From a Canadian perspective, these laws essentially encouraged Canadian newsprint producers to import American newsprint waste. In addition, by imposing compliance costs on American and Canadian newsprint producers in the range of several billions of dollars, these laws prevented capital from being productively spent on other environmental initiatives. Surveying alternatives to government mandated recycling legislation, this paper ends by concluding that if governments wish to improve environmental outcomes through newsprint recycling, their best option may be to extend the functioning of markets.

技術革新が新聞用紙とその製造技術を如何に変えてきたか―新聞用紙製造技術の系統化調査（その５）―

技術革新が新聞用紙とその製造技術を如何に変えてきたか―新聞用紙製造技術の系統化調査（その５）―

技術革新が新聞用紙とその製造技術を如何に変えてきたか―新聞用紙製造技術の系統化調査（その３）―

第1回で，紙パルプ産業の歴史，テーマ選定の背景及び基礎技術を簡単に解説し，第2回では，新聞用紙製造60年の変遷とその原料開発の歴史を紹介した。今回は，抄紙機に見られる技術開発の歴史を述べる。約2，000年前に発明された手漉きの方法（バッチプロセス）が1800年代初めに抄紙機として連続化され，生産性が飛躍的に向上し，印刷物の普及に大きく貢献した。この報告では1950年以降の抄紙機における技術開発を概観する。この技術開発を引き出したのは，新聞社における印刷技術の革新で，それを可能にする高信頼性の新聞用紙を大量に供給することが求められた。また，国際競争からコスト競争力のある新聞用紙を生産する必要があった。そのため，日本の製紙産業は次々と新しい技術を導入することで抄紙機の高速，大型化を進めた。また品質の関しても，国際水準をはるかに超える要求を満たし，結果として国内市場を維持し続けた。それを支えた個々の技術開発を解説するが，その過程で，製紙産業とその技術を提供する関連産業との信頼・協力が大きな役割をはたしてきた。次回では，日本の製紙産業の技術の特質を他国の製紙産業と比較して考察する。

技術革新が新聞用紙とその製造技術を如何に変えてきたか―新聞用紙製造技術の系統化調査（その２）―

技術革新が新聞用紙とその製造技術を如何に変えてきたか―新聞用紙製造技術の系統化調査（その２）―

Identification of Recalcitrant Stickies and Their Sources in Newsprint Production

Deposits from different sections of a newsprint paper mill, using 100% recovered paper, were analyzed following an analytical procedure based on scaning electron microscopy-electron dispersive X-ray and consecutive solvent extraction steps with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses of the different fractions. Polyvinyl acetate, polyacrylates, styrene butadiene rubber, and derivatives of fatty acids/resin acids are the main stickies-related components identified in the deposits. The removal efficiency of these contaminants along the deinking line was studied by determining the composition of the dichloromethane extractives in the pulp by FTIR analyses. Although the total stickies content is reduced considerably during the process, some compounds, which are found in the deposits, are not removed selectively in the process, indicating their recalcitrant nature. FTIR analyses of unusable materials coming with the raw material (mainly board and mixed office waste) have demonstrated that these...

Pulp from oil palm fronds by chemical processes

To enhance the use of the abundant biomass generated by the palm oil industry in Malaysia a study was conducted in view of exploring the papermaking potential of this industrial byproduct. Fiber strands from the frond of oil palm trees were examined relative to their physical and chemical characteristics and their response to chemical pulping such as sulfite, soda-sulfite and soda processes. Morphologically, the frond fibers are comparable to those of hardwood. They contain high content of holocellulose but low in lignin. Chemical pulps of 45–50% yield produced either by soda-sulfite or soda process exhibit acceptable papermaking properties comparable to those of hardwood kraft pulps. The study showed that frond pulp might be used as a reinforcement component in newsprint production using softwood thermomechanical fibers.

A comparison of approaches towards measuring technical change: the case of Swedish newsprint production

The purpose of this paper is to estimate and analyze technical change in the Swedish newsprint industry over the time period 1974–1994. Using a variable Translog cost function as the basis, three different approaches toward estimating technical change are developed: (a) the Tornqvist index, (b) the standard time trend specification, and (c) the general index approach. The empirical results indicate that considerable differences exist between the three approaches, both in terms of their mean estimates of technical change and in their variation over time. Finally, the main determinants of technical change in the Swedish newsprint industry are identified and used to explain the three technical change indices within a simple econometric model. The results indicate that capacity utilization has been the dominant determinant of technical change, but that regulatory intensity and output prices are also important determinants.

A comparison of approaches towards measuring technical change: the case of Swedish newsprint production

The purpose of this paper is to estimate and analyze technical change in the Swedish newsprint industry over the time period 1974–1994. Using a variable Translog cost function as the basis, three different approaches toward estimating technical change are developed: (a) the Tornqvist index, (b) the standard time trend specification, and (c) the general index approach. The empirical results indicate that considerable differences exist between the three approaches, both in terms of their mean estimates of technical change and in their variation over time. Finally, the main determinants of technical change in the Swedish newsprint industry are identified and used to explain the three technical change indices within a simple econometric model. The results indicate that capacity utilization has been the dominant determinant of technical change, but that regulatory intensity and output prices are also important determinants.