Pulp and Paper Industry

Chemicals

Pratima Bajpai

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9780128034088
• eBook ISBN:
  9780128034255
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Biochemistry
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Pulp and Paper Industry: Chemicals features in-depth and thorough coverage of Chemical additives in the Pulp and Paper Industry. It discusses use of Enzymes "Green Chemicals" that can improve operations in pulp and paper, describes Chemicals demanded by the end user and many key and niche players such as Akzo Nobel NV, Eka Chemicals AB, Ashland, Inc., BASF, Buckman Laboratories International, Inc., Clariant, Cytec Industries, Inc., Enzymatic Deinking Technologies, LLC, ERCO Worldwide, FMC Corporation, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC, Imerys SA, Momentive Specialty Chemicals, Inc., Novozymes, Kemira Chemicals, Nalco Holding Company, Omya AG, Solvay AG, and Solvay Chemicals, Inc.. Paper and pulp processing and additive chemicals are an integral part of the total papermaking process from pulp slurry, through sheet formation, to effluent disposal. Environmental concerns, increased use of recycled waste paper as a replacement for virgin pulp, changes in bleaching and pulping processes, increased efficiency requirements for the papermaking process, limits on effluent discharge as well as international competitiveness have greatly impacted the paper and pulp chemical additive market. This book features in-depth and thorough coverage of Chemical additives in Pulp and Paper Industry. - Detailed and up-to-date coverage of Chemicals in Pulp and Paper Industry - Authoritative, thorough, and comprehensive content on a wide variety of Enzymes "Green Chemicals" - Comprehensive list of Paper and Pulp Related Chemicals - Comprehensive list of all Pulp and paper Suppliers - Comprehensive Indexing

Chapter 1

Introduction

Abstract

Pulp and paper continue to be the largest industry in demand for chemical additives. Even with the increasing reliance on electronic media curtailing paper use, specialty chemical consumption is still huge, leading to a very large opportunity for specialty chemical additives that impart strength/performance enhancements at a lower or equivalent cost of existing products. The global market for pulp and paper chemicals is projected to rise to $20 billion by the end of 2015. In North America, the demand for pulp and paper chemicals is expected to increase to $4.8 billion in 2015. General aspects of pulp and paper chemicals, historical perspectives, and an overview of the pulp and paper chemicals market are presented.

Keywords

Chemical additives; Market overview; Productivity; Pulp and paper chemicals; Quality; Specialty chemicals

1.1. General Aspects

The paper industry has undergone significant changes because of mergers, acquisitions, and restructurings in order to survive the competitive nature of the business. The process for making paper is very capital- and resource-intensive (Bajpai, 2010). Modifications to the process regarding chemical additives or processing conditions can be met with resistance. At the same time, the market is in need of innovation and creative solutions to improve profitability and performance.

Pulp and paper manufacturing is one of the largest global industries with very high capital investments in mills producing paper on machines 10 m wide at speeds in excess of 2000 m per minute. The process of making paper, paperboard, and tissues today is highly cost-sensitive. The necessity for increasing productivity and quality, combined with environmental regulatory pressures, has resulted in an increased demand for pulp and paper chemical additives. On a global scale, paper consists of approximately 98% natural material. As shown in Table 1.1 (Zellcheming, 2006, 2008), 89% consists of chemical and mechanical pulps and paper for recycling. About 8% are added fillers and coating pigments, mainly in the form of China clay and calcium carbonate. The remaining 3% include chemical additives. Slightly more than half of this is starch, which is also derived from renewable raw materials and one tenth of it from aluminum compounds, for example the traditional chemical papermakers’ alum (aluminum sulfate). Only 1.1% of the raw materials used for paper and board production is synthetic chemical additives (speciality chemicals). These values are calculated on the basis of the dry content of the product in relation to the current world paper production.

Table 1.1

Raw material consumption of paper and board in relation to world paper production

Chemical pulp
Wood	29%
Annual plant	7%
Recovered paper	43%
Mechanical pulp	10%
Filler coating/pigment	8%
Chemical additives	3%
Basic and bleaching chemicals	1.0%
Speciality chemicals	1.1%
Starch	1.6%
Al-compounds	0.3%

Based on Zellcheming (2008).

Pulp and paper chemicals, the fine chemicals applied in the pulp and paper industry, have high social and economic benefits. High-end pulp and paper chemicals can provide paper with special characteristics such as wet strength, smoothness, printability, and softness, and make it waterproof. Although some can help make thinner, whiter, and stronger paper with low-quality fibers, others can increase manufacturers’ profits by optimizing the production process and improving the operation speed. Pulp and paper chemicals’ increasing applications are augmenting the revenue of the global pulp and paper chemicals market. The pulp and paper chemicals market has grown steadily over the past few years, one of the reasons being governmental recognition. Wastewater discharge from the pulp and paper industry accounts for one sixth of the total industry effluents, whereas organic pollutants account for one fourth of the same, making it the third most polluting industry. However, the increasingly stringent rules and regulations are compelling paper manufacturers to adopt cleaner production methods (Bajpai, 2010). Several manufacturers are working toward identifying biological substitutes for their current use of pulp and paper chemicals (Paice & Zhang, 2005). One of the effects of environmental consciousness has been the inclusion of drainage and retention aids, strength additives, and other pulp and paper chemicals. These help reduce the total volume of chemicals required for the papermaking process, by offering improved and more effective products with specific functions, many of which work synergistically with one other. Market participants also receive a huge boost with paper manufacturers considering waste paper deinking and pulping a big help in easing the high pressure on the environment. The increasing popularity of recycled fibers has created a significant market for corresponding chemical types such as deinking and strength agents, bleaching chemicals, and rosin sizes (Bajpai, 2013).

Paper additives can be used to create a specific grade of paper or paperboard product and they can be used in different steps of the production process. Chemical additives can help reduce the consumption of water and energy as well as raw material (Dulany et al., 2000). When the additives are used in the pulp slurry, the addition is called internal or wet-end addition, whereas when they are applied onto the paper sheet the addition is called surface or dry-end addition (Dulany et al., 2000).

Paper mills account for a large share of almost all pulp and paper chemicals. In particular, paper mills consume the vast majority of fillers and coating pigments and specialty additives in the overall pulp and paper industry (Auhorn, 2006). Printing and writing papers will continue to account for the majority of the chemicals used in paper mill operations and will record more rapid growth than other paper grades (Freedonia, 2011). This is due to the increasing use of specialty chemicals and higher loadings of fillers and opacifiers to create smoother, brighter printing grade papers. Although coated papers will continue to account for most of the demand, uncoated printing papers are also increasing their share of chemicals consumed as papermakers look to produce higher quality uncoated grades. Tissue paper will record above-average gains, supported by production growth of these paper grades, which include paper towels, facial tissues, napkins, and toilet paper. The production of newsprint consumes smaller amounts of chemicals because the demand for higher gloss and opacity is not as great in these lower price uncoated grades.

The market for pulp and paper chemicals is projected to reach 65 million tons by the year 2017, driven by growing demand from developing markets, particularly Asia, and the rising use of specialty chemicals (www.companiesandmarkets.com). The Asia Pacific area continues to remain the largest regional market, followed by the United States. The Asia Pacific and Latin America comprise the most promising markets in terms of sales value as well as volume. Urged by high growth rates in China, India, and the Asian countries, Asia Pacific has emerged as a region with high potential in the pulp and paper chemicals market. This prediction is based on the growth of coating binders and other coating additives such as lubricants and thickeners because of a predicted increase of coated grades production. Predicted increase in internal and surface sizing applications reflected expected need for improved printability and runnability of uncoated, wood-free grades. Strength additives growth will be results from need to assist the trends of basis weight reduction and filler level increase. Recent years have seen a strong movement of chemical additives into paper and paperboard grades that traditionally did not use chemical additives to any great extent. Examples include newsprint, which now uses fillers, sizing agents, retention aids, and linerboard, which now uses more fillers and retention aids. The greatly increased use of recycled fibers in some of these grades has also led to the application of greater amounts of dry-strength agents. The past several years showed an increase in activity in the use of enzymes in pulp and papermaking. Enzymes are extremely attractive “green chemicals” that can improve operations in pulp and paper. Examples of such applications are use of enzymes in bleaching; increase of freeness; improved beatability and strength properties of fibers; deinking of recycled fiber; cationic demand reduction by the application of pectinases, control of pitch, slime and stickies; and modification of starches for surface sizing and coating.

Chemical additives used in papermaking can be divided into three groups—general (commodity) and two classes of specialty chemicals—process and functional (Auhorn, 1999, 2006; Rice, 2001). Process chemicals are used to optimize the production process by increasing machine speed, runnability, providing deposit control, and reducing steam consumption. These chemicals include retention and drainage aids, defoamers/deaerators, fixative agents, biocides/slimicides and pitch-control agents, and pulp and fiber treatment chemicals such as deinking, bleaching, and pulping chemicals. Functional chemicals are used to impart various properties to the finished paper, ranging from improved strength and optical properties to enhanced printability....

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of Tables
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1. Introduction
• Chapter 2. Paper and Paperboard Industry
• Chapter 3. Pulp and Paper Chemicals
• Chapter 4. Enzymes
• Chapter 5. Major Pulp and Paper Chemical/Enzyme Suppliers
• Chapter 6. Future Trends
• Index