Paper

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Template:Short description Script error: No such module "other uses". Template:Infobox textile Template:DMCA Paper is a thin sheet of matted cellulose fibers. Largely derived from lignocellulose, paper is created from a pulp dissolved into a slurry that is drained and dried into sheets. Different types of paper are defined by constituent fiber, paper pulp, sizing, coating, paper size, paper density and grammage.

The papermaking process developed in East Asia at least as early as 105 CE by the Han court eunuch Cai Lun, although archaeological evidence exists of 2nd century BCE paper-like material in China. Before the industrialization of paper production, the most common paper was rag paper, made from discarded natural fiber textiles collected by ragpickers. The 1843 invention of wood pulp, coupled with the Second Industrial Revolution, made pulpwood paper the dominant variety to this day.[1]

Etymology

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The word paper is etymologically derived from Latin Script error: No such module "Lang"., which comes from the Greek Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".), the word for the Script error: No such module "Lang". plant.[2][3] Papyrus is a thick, paper-like material produced from the pith of the Script error: No such module "Lang". plant, which was used in ancient Egypt and other Mediterranean cultures for writing before the introduction of paper.[4] Although the word paper is etymologically derived from papyrus, the two are separate technological developments that use different materials and production methods. Papyrus is a lamination of natural plant fibre, while paper is manufactured from fibres whose properties have been changed by maceration.[5]

History

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Precursors

Script error: No such module "labelled list hatnote". Paper was preceded by and coexisted with other early writing materials, such as papyrus, parchment, vellum, barkcloth, birch bark, palm leaves, and bamboo and wooden slips.

Papyrus, superficially similar to paper, has several downsides that eventually caused it to be replaced by paper: It was geographically limited to a plant primarily grown in Egypt; it was both more expensive and laborious to produce compared to paper; and it was more fragile and sensitive to moisture, making it prone to break apart in damp conditions.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.

Invention and development

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Hemp wrapping paper, China, c. 100 BCE

The oldest known archaeological fragments of the immediate precursor to modern paper date to the 2nd century BCE in China. The pulp papermaking process is ascribed to Cai Lun, a 2nd-century CE Han court eunuch.[5][6]

Popular history points to the Battle of Talas in 751 CE as the moment when papermaking spread to the Islamic world, claiming that Tang dynasty papermakers were captured as prisoners and used to extract 'the secrets' of papermaking.[7] However, an archive of 76 paper writings in Sogdian, Aarabic, and Chinese has been found in Panjikent, left behind by the ruler Devastich before the city's capture by Arabs in 722. When Muslims first encountered paper in the 7th and 8th centuries, it had already been in the region for centuries. Sogdian writing on paper has also been found dating to 313 CE in Dunhuang. Paper was being made in Baghdad by the late 8th century.[8]

In the 13th century, knowledge of and use of paper spread from the Middle East to medieval Europe, where the first water-powered paper mills were built.[9] Because paper was introduced to the West through the city of Baghdad, it was first called bagdatikos.[10]

In the 19th century, industrialization greatly reduced the cost of manufacturing paper. In 1844, the Canadian inventor Charles Fenerty and the German inventor Friedrich Gottlob Keller independently developed processes for pulping wood fibres.[11]

Papermaking

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Pulp

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Pulp is a lignocellulosic mixture of isolated fibers. Traditional low-lignin pulp sources like rags and paper mulberry can be mechanically broken down; industrial pulpmaking largely makes use of pulpwood, which can be pulped chemically or mechanically.

Chemical pulping

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To make pulp from wood, a chemical pulping process separates lignin from cellulose fibre. A cooking liquor is used to dissolve the lignin, which is then washed from the cellulose; this preserves the length of the cellulose fibres. Paper made from chemical pulps is also known as wood-free paper (not to be confused with tree-free paper), because it does not contain lignin, which deteriorates over time. The pulp can also be bleached to produce white paper, but this consumes 5% of the fibres. Chemical pulping processes are not used to make paper made from cotton, which is already 90% cellulose.

The microscopic structure of paper: Micrograph of tissue paper autofluorescing under ultraviolet illumination. The individual fibres in this sample are around 10 μm in diameter.

There are three main chemical pulping processes: the sulfite process dates back to the 1840s and was the dominant method before the Second World War. The kraft process, invented in the 1870s and first used in the 1890s, is now the most commonly practised strategy; one of its advantages is that the chemical reaction with lignin produces heat, which can be used to run a generator. Most pulping operations using the kraft process are net contributors to the electricity grid or use the electricity to run an adjacent paper mill. Another advantage is that this process recovers and reuses all inorganic chemical reagents. Soda pulping is another specialty process used to pulp straws, bagasse and hardwoods with high silicate content.

Mechanical pulping

There are two major mechanical pulps: thermomechanical pulp (TMP) and groundwood pulp (GW). In the TMP process, wood is chipped and then fed into steam-heated refiners, where the chips are squeezed and converted to fibres between two steel discs. In the groundwood process, debarked logs are fed into grinders, where they are pressed against rotating stones to produce fibres. Mechanical pulping does not remove the lignin, so the yield is very high (>95%); however, lignin causes the paper thus produced to turn yellow and become brittle over time. Mechanical pulps have rather short fibres, thus producing weak paper. Although large amounts of electrical energy are required to produce mechanical pulp, it costs less than the chemical kind.

Recycling and de-inked pulp

A process for removing printing inks from recycled paper was invented by German jurist Justus Claproth in 1774. Today this method is called deinking.[1]

Paper recycling processes can use either chemically or mechanically produced pulp; by mixing it with water and applying mechanical action, the hydrogen bonds in the paper can be broken and fibres separated again. Most recycled paper contains a proportion of virgin fibre for the sake of quality; generally speaking, de-inked pulp is of the same quality or lower than the collected paper it was made from.

There are three main classifications of recycled fibre:

  • Mill broke or internal mill waste – This incorporates any substandard or grade-change paper made within the paper mill itself, which then goes back into the manufacturing system to be re-pulped back into paper. Such out-of-specification paper is not sold and is therefore often not classified as genuine reclaimed recycled fibre; however, most paper mills have been reusing their own waste fibre for many years, long before recycling became popular.
  • Preconsumer waste – This is offcut and processing waste, such as guillotine trims and envelope blank waste; it is generated outside the paper mill and could potentially go to landfill, and is a genuine recycled fibre source; it includes de-inked preconsumer waste (recycled material that has been printed but did not reach its intended end use, such as waste from printers and unsold publications).[12]
  • Postconsumer waste – This is fibre from paper that has been used for its intended end use and includes office waste, magazine papers and newsprint. As the vast majority of this material has been printed – either digitally or by more conventional means such as lithography or rotogravure – it will either be recycled as printed paper or go through a de-inking process first.

Recycled papers can be made from 100% recycled materials or blended with virgin pulp, although they are (generally) not as strong nor as bright as papers made from the latter.

Producing paper

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Paper mill in Mänttä-Vilppula, Finland

The pulp is fed to a paper machine, where it is formed into a paper web, and the water is removed by pressing and drying.

Pressing the sheet removes the water by force. Once the water is forced from the sheet, a special kind of felt, not to be confused with the traditional one, is used to collect it. When making paper by hand, a blotter sheet is used instead.

Drying involves using air or heat to remove water from the paper sheets. In the earliest days of papermaking, this was done by hanging the sheets like laundry; in more modern times, various forms of heated drying mechanisms are used. On the paper machine, the most common is the steam-heated can dryer. These can reach temperatures above 93 °C (200 °F) and are used in long sequences of more than forty cans where the heat produced by these can easily dry the paper to less than six percent moisture.

Paper grain

All paper produced by paper machines, such as the Fourdrinier machine, is woven paper, i.e., the wire mesh that transports the web leaves a pattern that has the same density along the paper grain and across the grain. Textured finishes, watermarks, and wire patterns imitating handmade laid paper can be created using appropriate rollers in the later stages of the machine.

Wove paper does not exhibit "laidlines", which are small, regular lines left behind on paper when it was handmade in a deckle mould made from rows of metal wires or bamboo. Laidlines are very close together. They run perpendicular to the "chainlines", which are further apart. Handmade paper similarly exhibits "deckle edges", or rough and feathery borders.[13]

Sizing and finishing

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Lower quality paper (used to print the book in 1991) with visible bits of wood

Papers may have their surfaces polished by calendering or burnishing. Paper can be further processed into coated paper by sizing it with a thin layer of material, such as calcium carbonate or kaolin, applied to one or both sides. This treatment alters the paper's final feel, improving its characteristics for specific purposes, such as preventing ink from running on printer paper.[14][15]

The paper is then fed onto reels if it is to be used on web printing presses, or cut into sheets for other printing processes or other purposes. Sheets are usually cut "long-grain", i.e., with the grain parallel to the sheet's longer dimension. Continuous form paper (or continuous stationery) is cut to width with holes punched at the edges, and folded into stacks.[citation needed]

Applications

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Paper money from different countries

It is estimated that paper-based storage solutions captured 0.33% of the total in 1986 and only 0.007% in 2007, even though, in absolute terms, the world's capacity to store information on paper increased from 8.7 to 19.4 petabytes.[16] It is estimated that in 1986 paper-based postal letters represented less than 0.05% of the world's telecommunication capacity, with a sharply decreasing tendency after the massive introduction of digital technologies.[16]

Paper has a major role in the visual arts. It is used by itself to form two- and three-dimensional shapes and collages.[17][18] It has also evolved to being a structural material used in furniture design.[19] Watercolor paper has a long history of production and use.

Types, thickness, and weight

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Card and paper stock for crafts use comes in a wide variety of textures and colors.

The thickness of paper is often measured with a caliper, which is typically given in thousandths of an inch in the United States and in micrometres (μm) elsewhere.[20] Paper may be between 0.07 and 0.18 millimetres (0.0028 and 0.0071 in) thick.[21]

Paper is often characterized by weight. In the United States, weight refers to the weight of a ream (bundle of 500 sheets) of varying "basic sizes" before the paper is cut to the size it is sold to end customers. For example, a ream of 20 lb, 8.5 in × 11 in (216 mm × 279 mm) paper weighs 5 pounds because it has been cut from larger sheets into four pieces.[22] In the United States, printing paper is generally 20 lb, 24 lb, 28 lb, or 32 lb at most. Cover stock is generally 68 lb, and 110 lb or more is considered card stock.

In Europe and other regions that use the ISO 216 paper-sizing system, the weight is expressed in grams per square metre (g/m2, usually gsm). Printing paper is generally between 60 gsm and 120 gsm. Anything heavier than 160 gsm is considered card. The weight of a ream, therefore, depends on the dimensions of the paper and its thickness.

Most commercial paper sold in North America is cut to standard paper sizes based on customary units, defined by the length and width of a sheet of paper.

The ISO 216 system used in most other countries is based on the surface area of a sheet of paper, not on a sheet's width and length. It was first adopted in Germany in 1922 and generally spread as nations adopted the metric system. The largest standard-size paper is A0 (A zero), measuring 1 square metre (approx. 1189 × 841 mm). A1 is half the size of a sheet of A0 (i.e., 594 mm × 841 mm), such that two sheets of A1 placed side by side are equal to one sheet of A0. A2 is half the size of a sheet of A1, and so forth. Common sizes used in the office and the home are A4 and A3 (A3 is the size of two A4 sheets).

The density of paper ranges from 250 kg/m3 (16 lb/cu ft) for tissue paper to 1500 kg/m3 (94 lb/cu ft) for some specialty paper. Printing paper is about 800 kg/m3 (50 lb/cu ft).[23]

In marketing and branding, paper weight (grammage) is used to influence consumer perception through haptic feedback. Research in sensory marketing indicates that heavier paper stock is often associated with higher perceived quality, professional reliability, and brand prestige than lighter alternatives. [24][25]

Types of paper

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  • Printing papers of wide variety.
  • Wrapping papers for the protection of goods and merchandise. This includes wax and kraft papers.
  • Writing paper suitable for stationery requirements. This includes ledger, bank, and bond paper.
  • Blotting papers containing little or no size.
  • Drawing papers usually with rough surfaces used by artists and designers, including cartridge paper.
  • Handmade papers including most decorative papers, Ingres papers, Japanese paper and tissues, all characterized by lack of grain direction.
  • Specialty papers including cigarette paper, toilet tissue, and other industrial papers.

Environmental impact

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The production and use of paper have several adverse effects on the environment.

Worldwide consumption of paper has risen by 400% over the past 40 years[<span title="Script error: No such module "decodeEncode".">clarification needed], leading to increased deforestation, with 35% of harvested trees used for paper manufacture. Most paper companies also plant trees to help regrow forests. Logging of old growth forests accounts for less than 10% of wood pulp,[27] but is one of the most controversial issues.

Paper waste accounts for up to 40% of total waste produced in the United States each year, amounting to 71.6 million tons.[28] The average office worker in the US prints 31 pages every day.[29] Americans also use in the order of 16 billion paper cups per year.

Conventional bleaching of wood pulp using elemental chlorine produces and releases into the environment large amounts of chlorinated organic compounds, including chlorinated dioxins.[30] Dioxins are recognized as a persistent environmental pollutant, regulated internationally by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Dioxins are highly toxic, and health effects on humans include reproductive, developmental, immune, and hormonal problems. They are known to be carcinogenic. Over 90% of human exposure occurs through food, primarily meat, dairy, fish, and shellfish, as dioxins accumulate in the food chain, particularly in the fatty tissues of animals.[31]

The paper pulp and print industries emitted together about 1% of world greenhouse-gas emissions in 2010[32] and about 0.9% in 2012.[33]

Current production and use

In the 2022−2024 edition of the annual "Pulp and paper capacities survey", the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reports that Asia has superseded North America as the top pulp- and paper-producing continent.[34]

FAO figures for 2021 show that the production of graphic papers continues its decline from a mid-2000s peak, hovering below 100 million tonnes a year. By contrast, the production of other papers and paperboard – which includes cardboard and sanitary products – has continued to soar, exceeding 320 million tonnes.[34]

FAO has documented the expansion of cardboard production in paper and paperboard, which has been increasing in response to the spread of e-commerce since the 2010s.[34] Data from FAO suggest that it has been even further boosted by COVID-19-related lockdowns.[35]

See also

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Göttsching, Lothar; Gullichsen, Johan; Pakarinen, Heikki; Paulapuro, Hannu; Yhdistys, Suomen Paperi-Insinöörien; Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (2000). Recycling fiber and deinking. Finland: Fapet Oy. pp. 12–14. ISBN 978-952-5216-07-3. OCLC 247670296.
  2. ^ πάπυρος Script error: No such module "webarchive"., Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek–English Lexicon, on Perseus
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."papyrus". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 29 January 2020.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."papyrus". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved 20 November 2008.
  5. ^ a b Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  6. ^ Hogben, Lancelot. "Printing, Paper and Playing Cards". Bennett, Paul A. (ed.) Books and Printing: A Treasury for Typophiles. New York: The World Publishing Company, 1951. pp. 15–31. p. 17. & Mann, George. Print: A Manual for Librarians and Students Describing in Detail the History, Methods, and Applications of Printing and Paper Making. London: Grafton & Co., 1952. p. 77
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ward, James (2015). The Perfection of the Paper Clip: Curious Tales of Invention, Accidental Genius, and Stationery Obsession. Atria Books. ISBN 978-1476799865.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bloom, Jonathan M. (December 2005), "Silk Road or Paper Road?" (PDF), The Silk Road, vol. 3, no. 2, American University, pp. 21–26, retrieved 3 September 2025
  9. ^ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  10. ^ Murray, Stuart A. P. The Library: An illustrated History. Skyhorse Publishing, 2009, p. 57.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Burger, Peter (2007). Charles Fenerty and his paper invention. Toronto: Peter Burger. pp. 25–30. ISBN 978-0-9783318-1-8. OCLC 173248586. Archived from the original on 19 April 2009. Retrieved 19 May 2009.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Natural Resource Defense Council". Archived from the original on 24 February 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  13. ^ "ARCHIVED – Introduction – Detecting the Truth. Fakes, Forgeries and Trickery – Library and Archives Canada" Script error: No such module "webarchive". in a virtual museum exhibition at Library and Archives Canada
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Appropriate Technology. Intermediate Technology Publications. 1996.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Thorn, Ian; Au, Che On (24 July 2009). Applications of Wet-End Paper Chemistry. Springer Science & Business Media. Bibcode:2009aowp.book.....T. ISBN 978-1-4020-6038-0.
  16. ^ a b "The World's Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information" Script error: No such module "webarchive"., especially Supporting online material Script error: No such module "webarchive"., Martin Hilbert and Priscila López (2011), Science, 332(6025), 60–65; free access to the article through here: martinhilbert.net/WorldInfoCapacity.html Script error: No such module "CS1 identifiers".
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Lynette Schweigert". NEA. 5 November 2015. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Herminia Albarrán Romero". NEA. 24 January 2013. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Morris (August–September 2018). "Material Values, Paper". The Economist. p. 38.
  20. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Paper Thickness (Caliper) Chart". Case Paper. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  21. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Elert, Glenn. "Thickness of a Piece of Paper". The Physics Factbook. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  22. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.McKenzie, Bruce G. (1989). The Hammerhill guide to desktop publishing in business. Hammerhill. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-9615651-1-4. OCLC 851074844.
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Density of paper and paperboard". PaperOnWeb. Archived from the original on 19 October 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
  24. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hultén, B. (2011). "Sensory marketing: the multi-sensory brand-experience concept". European Business Review. 23 (3): 256–273. doi:10.1108/09555341111130245. A brand's sensory cues, such as the feel of high-quality paper or a heavy package, can create a multi-sensory brand experience that communicates prestige and exclusivity.
  25. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Krishna, A. (2010). Sensory Marketing: Smells, Sounds, and the Other Five Senses That Sell. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415802482. For instance, a heavier business card might signify a more important or higher-status person... weight is frequently associated with seriousness and professionalism in a business context.
  26. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Johnson, Arthur (1978). The Thames and Hudson manual of bookbinding. London: Thames and Hudson. OCLC 959020143.
  27. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Martin, Sam (2004). "Paper Chase". Ecology Communications, Inc. Archived from the original on 19 June 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
  28. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.EPA (28 June 2006). "General Overview of What's in America's Trash". United States Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original on 5 January 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  29. ^ Groll, T. 2015 In vielen Büros wird unnötig viel ausgedruckt Script error: No such module "webarchive"., Zeit Online, 20 June 2015.
  30. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Effluents from Pulp Mills using Bleaching – PSL1. Health Canada DSS. 1991. ISBN 978-0-662-18734-9. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2007. Pdf Script error: No such module "webarchive".
  31. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Dioxins and their effects on human health". World Health Organization. June 2014. Archived from the original on 27 April 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2015. More than 90% of human exposure is through food
  32. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."World GHG Emissions Flow Chart 2010" (PDF). Ecofys. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  33. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."World GHG Emissions 2012". SANKEY DIAGRAMS. Ecofys. 22 February 2019. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  34. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Sustainability by numbers: Forest products at FAO. Rome: FAO. 2023. doi:10.4060/cc7561en.
  35. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."COVID-19 leads to changes in paper and paperboard production". www.fao.org. 3 September 2021. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.

General references

Further reading

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External videos
video icon Discussion with Mark Kurlansky on Paper: Paging Through History, June 12, 2016, C-SPAN

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Look up paper in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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