Straw paper production line. What is paper made from? Purpose of investment
A tree appears. Coniferous trees are used for this. 10% of the volume of commercial wood production is spent on paper needs. The development of computer technology and the Internet reduces the need for it. But the need for such material is gradually increasing. Exhausted clearings will be renewed in 50 years. When clearing, the forest boundary moves further and further from transport routes.
The destruction of the forest will cause irreparable harm to humanity. Exists alternative way production. For this, ordinary straw is used. After the wheat harvest is harvested, there is a lot of it left in the fields.
Material consumption:
- to produce one ton of paper you need one and a half tons of straw;
- for the manufacture of cardboard - two tons.
Sometimes a small amount of recycled paper is added during the production process. Nowadays, Woody Harrelson actively promotes the type of paper based on wheat straw.
Paper is made not only from wood. In China, this material has been made from reed or rice straw for hundreds of years. In Russia, the first attempts to produce such paper date back to 1715.
Actor Woody Harrelson founded a company that produces paper from wheat straw. It promotes the production and use of this environmentally friendly and high-quality type of paper made from wheat straw. Woody Harrelson believes that using straw to make paper can help protect the environment more effectively.
Woody Harrelson with a book on making paper from straw
Production
The technology of using reed is a complex process. First, straw is poured into the box. Straw cannot be used immediately; long stems will damage the processing.
First stage
First you need to grind the material. A special device is used, which is a rotating drum. The straw is fed into the pipe, where it is sucked in. After processing, the straw becomes suitable for further processing. 1300 kilograms will be processed into 1 ton of paper. Loading occurs approximately every 15 or 20 minutes. The chopped straw will need to be transferred to the digester where further stages of the process will be carried out.
Cooking processing
The crushed material is transferred to vats containing alkali - caustic soda.
- To prepare high-quality paper, it is necessary to soak the straw well with the specified solution. This is done by boiling it. The ability to easily absorb and release moisture plays a significant role. This eliminates the use of powerful presses and intensive cooking processes.
- The processed material is drained through holes that are prepared near the end of the cooking hose. The straw at this stage is saturated with moisture and alkali to a degree of 20 - 25 percent.
- It is fed into the next cooking chamber. In this case, the processing takes place using hot steam at a temperature of one hundred degrees.
The operator monitors the filling of the tank. For this purpose, there are holes in the tank shell, and various sensors are installed here that allow the operator to quickly respond to the degree of loading of the cooking chamber. There is a special unloading hose at the bottom. Through it, the finished mass is unloaded from the container.
Flushing
The mass of processed straw enters the pulper.
- It is saturated with liquid to a concentration of three percent. In this chamber, the material is washed and prepared for further processing stages.
- The washed and diluted solution is pumped into a buffer pool, which is considered as an intermediate tank. It is specially equipped to ensure constant mixing and prevent possible compaction of the top layer of the solution.
To do this, there is an elevation in the center of the pool, and mixing is carried out using special fans.
The last stage of preparation
The next step is to grind the material.
- The device to which the mixture is fed is a primary grinding mill. The material is further de-fibered and crushed.
- At this stage, the pre-treatment ends and, after drying, it is sent directly to the paper mill. There it is mixed with a small proportion of waste paper and used directly in the paper making process.
Paper making
After final grinding and dilution with water, the solution is sent to the table paper making machine, where the vibrating grids are located. There, using vacuum boxes, excess moisture is sucked out and the still wet sheets are cut to the desired size. Presses bring the mixture to fifty percent, after which drying machines perform the final drying of the paper. The moisture content of sheets of paper does not exceed ten percent.
Conclusion
The straw reserves are huge. Paper and cardboard made in this way are of high quality and environmentally friendly. They can be produced not only from straw, but also based on similar materials:
- reed;
- reeds;
- cattail.
Office paper It may be made from wood or be the result of recycling already used paper, but when it comes to large-scale production, wood is still used to make it.
In an effort to save tens of millions of trees from this fate, the company "Nature"s Paper» offers an alternative that uses leftover wheat straw.
When wheat is harvested, typically only the grain is used, which becomes the raw material for products such as flour and grains. Residues from mowing, namely wheat straw, are usually left in fields to decompose or fed to livestock.
Company "Nature's Paper" collects the remains of straw and converts them into paper pulp. At the same time, the straw is also used to produce organic biofuel, which helps the company heat water in production.
The bleaching process uses chlorine and sodium salts. The company is currently producing office paper A4 and A3 formats. Its quality is no different from paper made from wood.
This is an ideal business for district and regional scales.
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Comments (8)
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Short description:
The line consists of a rewinding part, a log storage unit and a high-speed orbital saw. The raw material in the reel is loaded onto the frame of the unwinding part, then passes through the embossing unit, the perforation unit and is wound into a log. Gluing the tear-off tail and cutting the paper are automatic. Next, the log goes to the log storage device. The storage tank is necessary for drying the glue. After the drive, the log enters the saw conveyor, where it is cut into rolls of a given length. Next, the rolls are packed into bags on a packaging machine. In the case of individual packaging of rolls in paper, an automatic log wrapping machine is installed between the rewinding part and the log storage unit.
Specifications:
WINDING PART
Width of source material, mm
diameter of source material, mm
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Automatic line for the production of toilet paper from waste paper base with aspiration.
productivity per month with 24/7 operation:
with a base format of 2700mm - 7,000,000 rolls
with a base format of 2500mm - 6,500,000 rolls
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1. Automatic installation for rewinding the base of toilet paper 2800 mm format (Russia) 2 pcs. (price of one - 2,940,000.00 rubles). RUB 5,880,000.00
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vestibule diameter up to 1200 mm
inner diameter of paper core 76mm, 100mm
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Line Name: Automatic Toilet Paper/Kitchen Paper Towel Production and Packaging Line
The kitchen paper towel and toilet paper production line includes a rewinder machine, circular and orbital log saw and packing machine.
Short description:
Automatic toilet paper production line is fast and effective method provide yourself with a high income that will allow you to have not only a decent and secure future, but also a present, since this is a truly profitable enterprise.
If you are attracted by the idea of fast and high earnings, then you can organize a line for the production of toilet paper right now. First, you will need to decide on the products you want to produce. This can be not only toilet paper, but also paper towels. Toilet paper can be colored, scented, wet, multi-layered, embossed, smooth and, among other things, can be equipped with a sleeve that...
Line for the production of toilet paper - "Automatic unwinding and winding machine ARNS 23" (complete with the necessary auxiliary equipment). It is also PM-3 under a different name. Everything is practically new. The work took about six months. For sale due to change of occupation. The equipment is currently dismantled and ready for shipment. Currently located in Riga, Latvia. I will organize delivery to any point in Russia, the CIS, etc.
This is a simple and reliable line that allows you to produce high-quality products - toilet paper and paper towel rolls.
The line consists of a main machine for rewinding, embossing and perforating paper and a band saw for cutting products to the required width.
Delivery time - from 40 days.
Main technical characteristics:
The maximum width of the initial roll is 176 cm.
The maximum diameter of the original roll is 100 cm.
The kit includes a machine for cutting rolls (band saw).
Automatic roll counting.
Automatic embossing device.
Automatic punching. Flexible setting of perforation pitch from 10 to 50 cm.
Fixing the end of the paper.
The maximum production speed is about 200 m/min.
Line for the production of WPC profiles
WPC profile is a decorative building material new type, based on mixing polymer PVC, PP, PE, PS, ABS and various types of plant fiber, why extrusion and why vacuum calibration. Suitable construction methods, such as shaving, tearing, sawing, painting, etc; Because these products are green environmental protection, waterproof, moisture-proof, anti-corrosion, anti-mildew, non-deformation and also fireproof property is good and can be recycled.
A. SHMAKOVA
Rice. L. TEPLOVA
With the first spring flood and until the end of navigation, hundreds of thousands and millions of trees, cut down in forests and tied into rafts, are melted along large and small rivers. A considerable part of them is sent to paper mills and pulp and paper mills. The so-called balance is delivered here by rivers and railways - straight, without knots, slender spruce trees of a certain thickness and length.
Currently, the raw material for the pulp and paper industry is mainly coniferous wood. 10% of industrial wood harvested by the USSR Ministry of Forestry Industry is processed into pulp, paper and cardboard.
Every year more and more paper is produced. And yet we miss her. Who hasn't felt frustrated when a quickly sold out favorite magazine wasn't available at the newsstand? How nice it would be to always receive bread wrapped in thin paper at the bakery!
The demand for paper is increasing faster than the growth of spruce in the forests. Our country is very rich in forests: we have one third of all the world's green areas. But already now in the European part Soviet Union, where paper mills and pulp and paper mills are mainly concentrated, the annual consumption of wood exceeds the natural growth of the forest. And in the vast expanses of the south of the USSR there are no or almost no forests. Wood has to be brought here from afar. Paper, produced mainly in forest areas, also travels long distances by rail.
But in the same southern treeless expanses there are huge, annually reproducible reserves of raw materials suitable for the production of paper and cardboard.
In fact, is it really necessary to spend only wood on the production of paper, which is so necessary for construction and for other economic needs? In addition, cutting areas with timber reserves are gradually moving further and further from railways and waterways, which leads to higher prices for products. And cut down logging areas are renewed only after 50-100 years.
It has long been known that in China, which is not rich in forests, paper has been made for many centuries from rice straw, bamboo, reeds, and shrubs. Nowadays, for example, in France, not only coniferous wood, but also annual plants are used as raw materials for paper and cardboard.
The history of the Russian paper industry also knows examples of the use of such raw materials. In one of the chronological indexes of the most important Russian inventions and improvements in paper production, we find that back in 1714, straw was used as a raw material at the Bogoroditsky paper mill and the Krasnoselskaya paper mill. It is also known that in 1861, at the St. Petersburg Industrial Exhibition, samples of white paper and cardboard made from straw were presented. In 1870, the Nevskaya Factory organized a straw-cellulose plant, and two years later, paper was made from sedge at the Malinskaya Paper Factory. In those same years, the Odessa and Kherson factories successfully produced paper from the reeds that grew in abundance here. In the book depositories of old libraries you can find No. 107 of the Odessa Journal for 1872, printed on reed paper.
The reserves of non-timber raw materials in the Soviet Union are incalculable. The area occupied by various reeds is about 5 million hectares. In the south of Ukraine alone, in the floodplains of the Dnieper, Southern Bug, Dniester and Danube, the annual resources of reed, cattail and reed amount to more than 400 thousand tons, of which only 50-60 thousand tons are currently used for various economic purposes. Even greater resources of these plants in the Volga delta, where they reach 2 million tons, and in Kazakhstan -14 million tons.
It's time to put these resources to work for the pulp and paper industry. They will make it possible to obtain additional hundreds of thousands of tons of printed paper and cardboard.
Two tons of reed can be used to make a ton of cardboard. Therefore, only from reed beds Astrakhan region and Kazakhstan, hundreds of thousands of tons of cardboard can be produced annually.
Cardboard is the most valuable material. It is widely used in industry, construction, and at home. There are about 100 types of cardboard. In many cases, it successfully replaces and even surpasses wooden packaging in its qualities. In national economic terms, this is not a trifle at all. Suffice it to say that in 1955 we produced about 650 million for packaging. wooden boxes, for which approximately 16 million cubic meters were used. m of business forest. Even recycling this wood into cardboard would yield significantly more packaging materials. After all, only about 40 packaging boxes are made from one cubic meter of wood. And if this wood is turned into cardboard, then it will make 200 boxes of the same capacity, quite strong and lighter. It is even more profitable to obtain cardboard containers from reed and straw.
It's time to put an end to the unjustified waste of our forest resources.
The directives of the 20th Congress of the CPSU, providing for an increase in the production of printing paper by approximately 60%, newspaper by 51% and cardboard in the sixth five-year plan by 2.8 times, directly indicate the need to “build new pulp mills and cardboard factories based on the use of reeds.”
The paper industry has been slow and timid in pursuing new opportunities to increase paper and board output.
True, the Ministry of Paper and Woodworking Industry plans to build two factories in Ukraine for the production of bleached cellulose from reed and two cardboard mills: one in the Astrakhan region, the other in Kazakhstan. But this is a drop in the bucket. Apparently, the ministry's leaders prefer to follow the beaten path of using precious wood, not wanting to bother themselves with finding new ways to process cheaper materials. At the same time, many experts argue that the production of cellulose from reed and straw is technologically simpler, and its quality is no worse than from wood.
The production of paper and cardboard can be expanded on a wide scale: in virgin regions - from straw; in the southern regions of Ukraine and the North Caucasus - from straw and reed vegetation; in rice-growing areas - from rice straw; in the middle and central zone - from straw, potato tops, flax and hemp fires, pine needles, bark and other plant waste.
To do this, it is not always necessary to build huge plants, such as Kamsky and Balakhninsky. Small pulp mills and pulp and cardboard mills will be fully supplied with local raw materials.
Reed, straw - a wide road to pulp, paper and cardboard mills!
MINISTER OF PAPER AND WOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY COM. F. D. VARAKSIN
DEAR FEDOR DMITRIEVICH!WE KNOW THE GREAT CHALLENGES THAT ARE IN GETTING AVAILABLE FROM THE VALUABLE WOOD REQUIRED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PAPER AND CARDBOARD. THESE DIFFICULTIES GROW BY THE “SCISSORS” PRINCIPLE: THE WOOD WILL BE PROVIDED INSUFFICIENTLY, THE PAPER WILL BE DEMANDED EVERY MORE. After all, the forests are retreating from the paper mills that consume them, and the demand for paper is growing. THIS QUESTION WORRIES EVERYONE: PUBLISHERS, READERS, SCHOOLCHILDREN, YOU PERSONALLY, MANY OF YOUR EMPLOYEES AND EVEN PEOPLE WHO BURN TENS OF MILLION TONS OF STRAW, REED AND OTHER TYPES OF POTENTIAL BURN AS BAD FUEL MAJOR RAW MATERIALS.
YOU, OF COURSE, KNOW THAT WE ARE OBLIGATED TO RESTORING OUR FOREST RICHES, WHICH HAVE BEEN DAMAGED IN MANY PLACES BY THE PAPER INDUSTRY. IT IS ALSO KNOWN THAT THE PRODUCTION OF PAPER AND CARDBOARD FROM REED, STRAW AND EVEN FROM THE TOPS OF MANY GARDEN PLANTS AND CORN STALKS IS HARD TO CALL A TECHNICAL NEW. MANY OF SIMILAR TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESSES WERE KNOWN IN US UNDER PETER I, AND IN CHINA EVEN EARLIER.
UNDOUBTEDLY, THE PAPER INDUSTRY IS ONLY ONE OF THE CAUSES OF FOREST DESTRUCTION, BUT IF FORESTS ARE CUTTED EVEN TO SAW OUT OF WOOD, MAINLY YOUNG, “NON-RETURNABLE” CONTAINER BOARDS, IT’S BECAUSE WE HAVE LITTLE THEY MAKE CARDBOARD CONTAINERS.
OVER A NUMBER OF YEARS, BOTH THE COUNTRY'S FOREST RICHES AND PAPER PRODUCTION HAVE SUFFERED STRONGLY FROM PAPER PRODUCTION. IN THE PAPER FLOW, THERE ARE A LOT OF EXCELLENT DECISIONS ABOUT THE USE OF CHEAP AND AVAILABLE TYPES OF RAW MATERIALS FOR PAPER PRODUCTION. FROM DECISIONS TO ACCOMPLISHMENTS - ONE STEP. BUT IS HE, TO SPEAK IN THE LANGUAGE OF ATHLETES, “TOO LONG”?
PAPER, THE MAIN CARRIER OF HUMAN CULTURE, CANNOT BE SCARED. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE IN ANY COUNTRY, AND ESPECIALLY IN OURS.
READERS ARE LEGITIMATELY DISSATISFIED WITH THE FACT THAT THE CIRCULATION OF OUR MAGAZINE, LIKE A NUMBER OF OTHER PUBLICATIONS, SATISFIES ONLY 10% OF THE NEED. HOW MANY YEARS WILL THIS BE A BOTTLE PLACE? HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE THE TRANSITION TO NEW TYPES OF RAW MATERIALS TO COMPLETE AND IS IT SPECIFICALLY PLANNED?
WE WOULD BE VERY APPRECIATE IF YOU AND YOUR EMPLOYEES DO NOT CONSIDER IT IS BURNING TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS OF READERS' CONCERNS.
Ukraine is a young state, and the way we often rush into dubious adventurous projects can be explained by growing pains, a desire to prove our maturity and independence to “adult” countries. But sometimes it’s enough to look around carefully to find the keys to solving many problems at arm’s length. Such, for example, as the supply of raw materials to the domestic paper industry
In the absence of a stamp, we write in simple
Became in the early 90s of the last century independent state, Ukraine was left practically without own production newsprint and with an extremely small volume of production of offset-type printing paper. And this at a time when there was an urgent need to create our own independent information space.
Due to the fact that the local raw material base has always been insignificant, and in Soviet times powerful pulp mills were created far beyond the borders of Ukraine, closer to raw materials; local enterprises specialized in the production of so-called low-tonnage types of paper - capacitor paper, for lining furniture parts, photosensitive paper, etc. Today, with the development of technology, most of them are no longer used. Large-scale paper (newspaper, offset, etc.), the production of which requires significant volumes of primary raw materials, was supplied from other regions of the Union.
In the mid-90s, the Zhidachevsky pulp and paper mill reconstructed and modernized the paper-making machine, which made it possible to establish the production of domestic newsprint. And if at first its quality left much to be desired, then in subsequent years it has undergone significant changes and is now not inferior to Polish-made newsprint. However, the volumes are still insignificant. With an annual demand of about 150 thousand tons, domestic production provides only 35 thousand. The rest has to be purchased abroad.
The situation with offset paper is even more deplorable: with a demand of 90 thousand tons, its annual production does not exceed 15 thousand. Imports still help out. The largest importers of cardboard and paper products to Ukraine are Russia and Finland. Together they provide 50% of the supply of paper and cardboard and products made from them. They are followed in descending order by Poland, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Turkey, Belarus, Lithuania, China and other less significant suppliers.
It should not be forgotten that the industry’s activities are not limited to the production of printing paper. The range of its products is very extensive: there is also writing paper, notebook paper, sanitary paper, wrapping paper, corrugating paper, container cardboard, box paper and many other types of products, the demand for which is constantly growing all over the world, including in Ukraine.
By the way, world production paper and cardboard production increases annually by an average of 3%, which, of course, is a response from manufacturers to the growing demands of consumers. The state of development of the pulp and paper industry is assessed according to the generally accepted worldwide indicator of consumption of cardboard and paper products per capita. Ukraine managed to overcome the consequences of the economic collapse of the 90s and reach the level that preceded the decline, when annual per capita consumption of paper reached 35 kg. The domestic market for the consumption of cardboard and paper products increased last year to 1 million 586.2 thousand tons - 2.5 times compared to 2000. Our own production amounted to 924.3 thousand tons of paper and cardboard.
Is it a lot or a little? Judge for yourself. If the world average is 65 kg, then in countries Western Europe, in the USA, Canada, Japan, average per capita consumption exceeds 200 kg per year. The USA annually produces 83 million tons of paper and cardboard products, China - 55, Japan - 31, Germany - 21, Canada - 19, Finland - 12, France and Italy - 10 each, in Russia - 7 million tons, of which it follows that Ukraine is at the level of African countries and Latin America. However, with imports of 1577.1 thousand tons, the volume of exports of Ukrainian cardboard and paper products in 2008 amounted to 389.9 thousand tons. It is noteworthy that most of the products of Ukrainian paper and cardboard manufacturers (almost 60%) are supplied to Russia. This is followed by Belarus, Moldova, Germany, Kazakhstan, Romania, the Baltic countries, Asia and others.
It should be emphasized that domestic cardboard and paper enterprises annually export beyond Ukraine over 40% of the total volume of manufactured products worth about $800 million. Isn’t this a direct reason to look for ways to increase our own production capacity in order to reduce dependence on foreign supplies and strengthen your presence as a supplier of your own products to the international market?
Pros and cons of “loose” content
Having lost allied support, the Ukrainian pulp and paper industry found itself in the position of a child, whom soulless adults threw into the depths so that he could learn to swim. But, left without the earth's firmament under her feet, she, to the surprise of many, nevertheless floated out. Today in the country there are about 100 enterprises engaged in the production of cardboard and paper products, while in 1990 there were only 24. And together with processors, traders, scientific, installation and specialized trade organizations their number already exceeds 300.
The industry employs over 30 thousand people. Its enterprises operate 72 cardboard and paper-making machines, more than 70 corrugating units for the production of corrugated cardboard; Almost 50 enterprises have equipment for the production of notebooks and 10 wallpapers. The total installed capacity of cardboard and paper machines is about 1 million tons of paper and cardboard per year.
Since 2000, industry enterprises have ensured an annual increase in output by 10-14%. All of them have been privatized; there is not a single one left whose owner is the state. Reconstruction and modernization of the existing technological equipment, acquisitions of new ones are carried out exclusively at the expense of shareholders, borrowed money banks.
The production of products for which waste paper is the raw material has received significant development. It accounts for more than 80% of the total raw material volume. By providing consumers with packaging materials, sanitary and hygienic products, and other products using recycled materials, enterprises simultaneously solve pressing environmental issues by processing annually up to 800 thousand tons of waste paper accumulated in the country. Moreover, in order to fully utilize production capacity, almost 150 thousand tons of waste paper are still imported from abroad.
Today there are four powerful manufacturers of corrugated cardboard and transport packaging in Ukraine. These are open joint-stock companies “Kiev Cardboard and Paper Mill”, “Rubezhansky Cardboard and Container Mill”, “Zhidachevsky Pulp and Paper Mill” and “Izmail Pulp and Cardboard Mill”. In addition, OJSC "Kyiv Pulp and Paper Mill" is the largest producer of tissue paper, and OJSC "Zhidachivsky Pulp and Paper Mill" is the only producer of newsprint paper in Ukraine. OJSC "Dnepropetrovsk Paper Mill" is the only manufacturer of cellulose paper for printing in the country and one of the leaders in the production of notebooks, OJSC "Koryukovskaya Technical Paper Factory" is a European leader in the production of wallpaper, OJSC "Malinskaya Paper Mill" produces unique species electrical and filter paper and cardboard.
At the same time, the age of many domestic cardboard and paper enterprises has exceeded one hundred years, therefore, technical condition The industry is characterized by depreciation of fixed assets, the performance of which is maintained mainly through restoration, ongoing reconstruction and modernization. In addition, the pulp and paper industry is quite energy-intensive. Every year its enterprises require 400 million cubic meters of natural gas to obtain thermal energy needed in technological processes. That's why Special attention there is a focus on the introduction of modern energy-saving technologies and equipment.
With Ukraine’s accession to the WTO, the domestic market for cardboard and paper products opened its doors wide to the import of many types of industry products, primarily wallpaper, tissue paper products, container board and corrugated paper, which, of course, made life difficult for Ukrainian producers. Many enterprises have intensified work on the reconstruction and modernization of existing production facilities. However Negative consequences The global financial and economic crisis and the instability of the domestic currency forced the curtailment of many investment projects. Constant ongoing costs for the purchase of imported spare parts, materials, raw materials and chemicals, as well as a sharp increase in the cost of natural gas against the background of the devaluation of the national currency, led to a significant increase in production costs and a deterioration in the financial position of paper mills. To this we must also add the problems of financial lending in commercial banks.
However, it should be especially emphasized: the main problem of the industry has always been and remains the lack of its own raw material base, acute shortage cellulose, wood pulp and waste paper. Because of this, Ukrainian pulp and paper industry enterprises produce a limited number of types of paper and cardboard. The production of white grades of paper is completely insignificant and extremely insufficient for the country. For example, we do not produce coated paper or base paper for wallpaper at all, so they enter the consumer market exclusively through imports. The shortage of raw materials is the main limiting factor in increasing the production of paper, cardboard and products made from them.
Who are you coming?
Many views on the organization of work of enterprises producing semi-finished raw materials are hopelessly outdated. The time has come for fresh ideas, unconventional solutions, the generator of which was the Association of Ukrainian Pulp and Paper Industry Enterprises “Ukrpapir”, created in 2003 and today uniting 39 largest enterprises. Its executive director, Eduard Litvak, sees a real possibility of building a pulp mill in Ukraine, which should include the production of pulp itself and an enterprise for the production of printed types of paper, primarily offset.
In 2007, says Eduard Leonidovich, the association initiated the development of a strategic program for the development of the pulp and paper industry and the market for cardboard and paper products for the period until 2020. The well-known Finnish consulting company Poyry was involved as the developer of this document, which is preparing such programs for many countries, including Russia, Poland, and Germany. The company has accumulated significant experience in this area, and the purpose of involving Poyry in the development of a strategic program for Ukraine was to prepare a document that would be understandable to a foreign investor, in other words, would be executed in a European format. We did not use a single penny of government funds to develop the program: financing was provided by enterprises - members of the association and from funds raised from investors.
Finnish developers completed the task by the beginning of 2008, and in this moment This document is reflected in the Concept for the development of the pulp and paper industry of Ukraine for the period until 2020, which the Ukrpaper Association is developing jointly with the Ministry of Industrial Policy of Ukraine. The main directions of industry development will be the creation of new modern production cardboard and paper products in order to saturate domestic market printed types of paper of domestic production, that is, reducing dependence on imports; increasing the specific consumption of cardboard and paper products to the European level; creation of own raw material base for enterprises; development of the export potential of the pulp and paper industry of Ukraine; improving the quality and competitiveness of domestic products and, of course, creating new jobs.
The executive director of the association is confident that, despite all the financial and economic problems, work on developing the concept together with the Ministry of Industrial Policy will be completed this year, and the document will be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers for approval.
Benya Krik was all wrong
In one of Isaac Babel’s “Odessa Stories,” his hero Benya Krik says: “While we are young, we think of women as a commodity. And this is straw that burns out of nothing!”
There is no doubt that the Moldavian king had extensive experience with the female sex. But he knew nothing about straw, which not only burns, but under certain conditions is capable, according to the poet’s apt observation, “to play a decisive role in fate.” And these are the conditions in which the Ukrainian pulp and paper industry exists.
In the global pulp and paper industry, the main raw material for the production of paper and cardboard is wood pulp. But for countries that do not have sufficient reserves of it (and Ukraine is one of them), the relevance of the production of fibrous semi-finished products from non-wood plant raw materials, in particular from the straw of cereal crops, is increasing. So far, domestic enterprises use imported cellulose and waste paper to produce paper and cardboard. But the high cost of the first and the tendency for the quality of the second to deteriorate require the creation of the production of their own fiber base for pulp and paper industry enterprises.
Actually, the idea of using straw to produce paper and cardboard is not new. It is successfully implemented in many countries: Spain, France, Great Britain, and the USA. Not to mention China, where almost a third of pulp products are made from rice straw. By the way, they don’t disdain wheat there either.
Why - by the way? Yes, because in Ukraine the reserves of wheat straw are truly inexhaustible. According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, up to 20 million tons accumulate annually. It is partially used as roughage and bedding for livestock, partially crushed and scattered on fields, followed by plowing. But up to 20% of cereal straw remains wasted. “It’s burning out of nothing!”, as Benya Krik would say. The use of these residues would make it possible to obtain, depending on the technology chosen, from 1 to 3 million tons of fibrous semi-finished products for use in the composition various types paper and cardboard.
Dividing this number by 46 million Ukrainians, we get an increase of 20 to 65 kg to the current average per capita consumption (35 kg). And this is already the world average. A further increase in the use of straw will make it possible to reach the average European level of consumption of cardboard and paper products.
IN Lately vegetable raw materials from annual plants are attracting increasing attention from specialists in the pulp and paper industry. This is due to the availability and low cost of such raw materials, which are used for Agriculture production waste, improving methods of harvesting, storing and transporting straw, as well as developing new resource-saving and more environmentally friendly clean ways obtaining fibrous semi-finished products.
The use of wheat straw, as well as other cereal crops, will partially replace imported wood pulp and significantly reduce production energy costs. Therefore, the creation of an own raw material base for enterprises in the industry is based on foreign and domestic specialists, along with deep chemical processing wood laid down the use of annual plants, that is, straw, reflecting this in the strategic program and concept for the development of the industry until 2020.
I remember that in the early and mid-90s of the last century, when they first felt an acute paper shortage, Ukrainian publishers, and not only them, raised the issue of establishing their own paper production using straw. But then, in the conditions of the collapse of the economy, it was more like a fairy tale about the Straw Bull. How realistic is this now? Do relevant scientific developments exist in the country, are economic feasibility studies carried out, and if so, at what stage are they now? After all, without this, all ours strategic programs and the concepts will remain at the level of Mr. Manilov’s intentions to dig a pond and create a fairy-tale park around it.
It turns out that they exist, moreover, they are waiting in the wings. At the Department of Ecology and Technology of Plant Polymers, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, National technical university Ukraine's "Kiev Polytechnic Institute" has been working in this direction for several decades.
This is what the deputy vice-rector of NTUU “KPI” for scientific work, Associate Professor of the Department of Ecology and Technology of Plant Polymers Valery Barabash.
One third of any plant material consists of lignin, which binds fibers. Soft and flexible paper can only be obtained if the lignin is completely removed. This is done in a process called delignification of raw materials. Around the world, the main delignification method in the production of cellulose is sulfate. But it was and remains the main source of pollution in the pulp and paper industry environment toxic sulfur- and chlorine-containing substances: mercaptans, dioxins and furans.
The sulfite method for producing cellulose is the second most widely used method and is more environmentally friendly. However, it is not widely used for the production of fibrous semi-finished products, which is due to the specific structure and chemical composition of cereal straw.
Along with these methods, the world pulp and paper industry uses other delignification methods for the production of fibrous semi-finished products from straw: soda, neutral-sulfite, organosolv, acid-base. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on the requirements for the quality of fibrous semi-finished products, economic and environmental indicators. Therefore, for many years we have been working on cleaner technologies for the production of semi-finished fibrous products in general and cellulose in particular. One of the most promising areas in this regard is, of course, organosolv methods, which, along with the possibility of producing cellulose with a higher yield of fibrous semi-finished products (55-70% of absolutely dry raw materials), make it possible to solve the environmental problems of the industry.
We have developed and patented a number of modifications of organosolv methods, in which the delignification process takes place in an organic environment more gently, with minimal environmental pollution and a high yield of the final product. If this technology were introduced, for example, at the Zhidachevsky Pulp and Paper Mill, then, given their productivity, the economic effect would be about 10 million dollars per year.
Our other developments are also protected by patents. Thus, the “Method for producing semi-finished fibrous products” makes it possible to produce straw mass of the chemical-thermomechanical type, which can be used in the composition of most packaging types of paper and cardboard. “Method for producing soda straw semi-cellulose” simplifies technological process obtaining fibrous semi-finished products by eliminating the causticization stage, which allows reducing production costs and reducing the environmental load on the environment.
Researchers of the department have shown that straw fibrous semi-finished products, despite their low initial whiteness, are well bleached with hydrogen peroxide in one or several stages at a consumption of this compound of 1-5% by weight of absolutely dry fiber. The possibility of using straw fibrous semi-finished products obtained different ways delignification, in composition different types cardboard and paper products: container board, cardboard for flat layers of corrugated cardboard, corrugating paper, writing paper, etc.
Is the game worth the candle?
Experts are unanimous in their opinion: market conditions very favorable for investing in the production of cardboard and paper products. But this must be quite a large amount of money, since each ton of such products requires an investment of about 1.5 thousand euros. In other words, a factory with a capacity of 200 thousand tons of paper and cardboard per year will cost approximately 450 million euros. However, interest in creating new businesses is growing even now. A paper mill is being built in Kharkov, for new factory In Slavuta, Khmelnitsky region, equipment has already been purchased; production at the Dnepropetrovsk paper mill has been significantly expanded as a result of the installation of a new paper-making machine. The industry is developing and has prospects.
As for the raw material base, a plant for the production of cellulose from wood pulp in terms of capital investment significantly exceeds the construction of a plant for chemical-thermomechanical pulp or cellulose from annual plants. The technology here is simpler, but it also has its problems. Timber, for example, is harvested year-round, while straw is a seasonal product. Therefore, in order for the enterprise to operate all year, it is necessary to create its reserves. Transporting straw over long distances is unprofitable, so existing enterprises of this type in Spain, China or Vietnam tend to have small capacity and specialize in the production of either cellulose or chemical-thermo-mechanical pulp. Cellulose from this raw material is used for high-quality printed types of paper, including money. Based on this, the economic feasibility of building an enterprise is determined.
Considering that there is practically no production of semi-finished products for the industry in Ukraine, creating an enterprise based on annual plants will be a uniquely effective solution.
Specialists from NTUU "Kiev Polytechnic Institute" and their colleagues from the Association of Ukrainian Pulp and Paper Industry Enterprises "Ukrpapir" believe that such an enterprise should be located near a sufficiently powerful source of water, have extensive energy and transport networks, collect, transport and store raw materials mechanized, with minimal material and labor costs. The amount of raw materials must be sufficient to ensure uninterrupted operation throughout the year. It is desirable that the raw materials have a homogeneous anatomical and morphological structure and constant chemical composition. Technological processing modes must most fully meet specific features raw materials and ensure high technical and economic indicators.
Production costs for obtaining a ton of straw fibrous semi-finished products, depending on the quality characteristics of the final product, will range from 30 to 60 cubic meters of water, from 2 to 4 Gcal of steam and from 300 to 500 kWh of electricity.
Experience European countries shows that the most optimal production of straw fiber semi-finished products is with a capacity of 10-20 thousand tons per year with a raw material delivery radius of up to 200 kilometers. According to calculations by specialists from the Ukrpapir association, the estimated cost of building an enterprise for the production of such semi-finished products will be 60-100 million dollars, and the payback period at 15 percent profitability will be five to seven years. At the same time, the cost of building an enterprise for the production of pulp from wood with an annual productivity of 300 thousand tons will be 500-800 million dollars.
Preliminary calculations indicate that when introducing the production of fibrous semi-finished products from non-wood plant raw materials using technologies developed at NTUU "KPI", the estimated cost, for example, of organosolv cellulose from wheat straw will be about $500 per ton, while the cost of a ton of bleached sulfate hardwood foreign-made cellulose - at least $700.
So, let's summarize. There is more than enough straw in Ukraine, especially in the Odessa, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, and Kharkov regions, and its use in the pulp and paper industry can bring the country to the European level in terms of consumption of cardboard and paper products, significantly reducing dependence on imports. The undoubted advantages of this product are the annual replenishment of the resource, unlike forests, the restoration of which takes many years, as well as its low cost compared to wood and a positive environmental effect.
And, of course, the use of straw in the pulp and paper industry will save forest resources, the use of which has long exceeded all reasonable limits, to transfer this secondary product of agricultural production, a significant part of which goes to waste, into the category of “goods”, willingly purchased from agricultural producers. Issues with water, steam and electricity are also quite solvable; this is not metallurgy.
The problem of money remains, but there are already interested investors. As for the current unfavorable economic situation, crises come and go, but needs are eternal and constantly growing. And this is precisely the case when it is worth mobilizing opportunities to satisfy needs.