Having ourselves switched in the last year from print publishing to digital, we at Odyssey Magazine are acutely aware of the problems facing both paper users and suppliers. All the more so are the folks at Sappi, one of the world's leading paper and pulp manufacturers. Given the challenges of their sector, Sappi has forged ahead with a line of business which is not well understood by laymen – and even many industry players. We take a look at how Sappi is going beyond paper.
There are a range of substances which must be removed from wood to make either paper or pulp, and there are things which must be done to the pulp to make it useful to others and in a surprisingly wide range of applications.
done the same thing in response to low coated paper prices and declining demand, all fuelled by the global downturn which started several years ago.
Cellulose
Some may know what cellulose is and others may not. It is not, for example, the fatty nodules that some people (usually women, but not exclusively) complain of and which are the subject of a great deal of time, money and trouble to get rid of. That would be cellulite. Cellulose is essentially what is left of the wood fibre when the other natural substances found in wood have been removed. It is usually found in long strings, called polymers, which is a technical term that only means that it is composed of many parts strung together. It is the most abundant natural organic polymer on earth and is found in all plant materials. Learning how to use it for a bewildering variety of modern products has been the key to unlocking a value chain of which the great majority of people are simply unaware. In Sappi's case, their cellulose is obtained from wood from certified forests or plantations which is then processed and purified by applying specialised chemistry to extract the cellulose polymers from the wood. The purified natural wood cellulose fibres are further dissolved by other manufacturers and re-generated or reformed for a host of applications. The 'raw material' which Sappi and other pulp manufacturers produce for further conversion is called dissolving wood pulp or specialised cellulose for those in the industry. While the manufacturing of this form of wood pulp involves various chemical processes, primarily the use of magnesium sulphite and calcium, this does not mean that the process itself results in major negative environmental impacts. If kept in-plant, there is no reason for significant effluent to result from the process and Sappi says it has gone out of its way to ensure that existing plants and new plants designed to produce this product do not contribute to enviro-toxicity in any meaningful way.
paper
which must be removed to make either paper or pulp, and there are things which must be done to the pulp to make it useful to others and for their use in a surprisingly wide range of applications. We've looked previously at the issues around paper. Now we turn out attention to dissolving pulp, not least because Sappi, as a global player in this industry, has
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