How a Paper Mill Works

You’ll probably at some in your life stopped to wonder how paper is made in a paper mill. Worry no more here is the definite answer. First you need logs lots of them. The logs go into a huge vat like thing which is then filled with water. Then the logs are rotated or tumbled. This process slowly removes the bark from the logs.  Next the logs are fed into a chipper machine and the logs are shredded into lots of tiny bits and pieces.

The resulting pieces of wood are much better to work with than big logs. The chips are then tipped onto a conveyor belt into a machine. The machine known as a digester is similar to a giant cooking pot. At this point chemicals are added and are used to remove elements of wood that are not used in the manufacture of paper. The unnecessary elements dissolve. What’s left of the chips are passed out of the digester and rinsed to rid the chips of the chemicals. At this stage what remains in known as pulp.

That’s one part of the process completed the next stage is the paper machine. This is a complex machine with a great many parts. This is where the paper sheets are made. The pulp enters the headbox where water and filters are added and the pulp traverses through a tube onto the wire. The wire is continuously moving meshed frame. The pulp travels over the mesh and excess liquid drains away as it goes. Once the pulp gets to the end it goes through some rollers known as the felt where the last of the water is squeezed out.

At this point we are left with fibre and it now enters the drying cylinders. The cylinders are very large and are heated inside with steam. The fibre passes through the cylinders several times so it is bone dry. Next the calendar which is used to press what is now paper to make sure it is very smooth. At this point it is rolled into huge rolls and leaves the paper machine. .Sometimes the rolls are put on another roller and super calendared to make the paper smoother still. The paper can now be embossed if necessary to be imprinted and some might go on to a cutter and cut into sheets. It all sounds rather primitive but today’s machines are state of the art and much more complicated than machines used just a few years ago