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00:00Each year, more than 400 million tons of paper are consumed worldwide.
00:05Around 15 trees are needed to produce one ton of paper.
00:09Production reaches 55,000 sheets per minute to meet this great demand.
00:13Enormous harvesters gather tons of wood.
00:16But how does wood become paper?
00:18We visited a paper mill to discover how paper is made from trees.
00:22It is believed that paper was invented in China during the Han Dynasty around the 2nd century BC.
00:28The invention of the paper machine allowed mass production.
00:31In the mid-19th century, chemical methods for bleaching pulp were introduced, which improved paper quality.
00:38The paper industry is one of the largest in the world.
00:41Millions of tons of paper are produced each year to meet global demand.
00:45Mainly, wood pulp, extracted from cellulose found in trees, is used to make paper.
00:51The wood used in cellulose production comes from forest plantations of fast-growing species.
00:57Cellulose is a natural fiber found in the cell walls of plants and is particularly abundant in wood.
01:03Eucalyptus trees are widely used, especially in tropical and subtropical regions.
01:09They have a high cellulose content in their wood and grow quickly, making them an efficient option.
01:15A tree like this provides oxygen for three people to breathe each day.
01:19Some varieties of eucalyptus can be harvested in 10 to 15 years.
01:24The paper-making process begins with tree felling in the forests.
01:28Trees selected for harvest are chosen carefully, considering their age, size and health.
01:33Selection may be based on a selective logging approach, where only mature and ready-to-harvest trees are cut.
01:39Selected trees are felled in a controlled manner.
01:42This process is carried out using a 25-ton forest harvester.
01:47The cutting head grips a tree with a lathe-like device, and a saw just under one meter in size cuts the trunk.
01:54The felled tree passes through the head, where four blades cut off its branches, and the saw cuts it into more manageable pieces.
02:01It takes just 40 seconds to turn a tall tree into a pile of wood chunks.
02:06The wood is loaded onto trucks and transported to the pulp and paper mill.
02:11After harvesting, reforestation is carried out to ensure the renewal of forest resources.
02:16This involves planting new trees to replace those harvested, contributing to the sustainability of the wood supply for paper production.
02:24The paper-making process begins with the arrival of the wood.
02:27Each day, more than 200 trucks loaded with hundreds of logs arrive at the paper mill.
02:33The wood logs are unloaded in the designated area.
02:36The machine's clamp can lift 25 tons of logs at once.
02:39With a single log, at least 15 packs of copier paper are made.
02:43Paper is made from a pulp that contains 65% eucalyptus, 25% birch, and 10% poplar.
02:51To produce one ton of paper pulp, two tons of wood are needed.
02:55First, the cellulose must be extracted, but bark is rich in tannins and other unwanted chemicals, so the logs must be debarked.
03:02This process takes place in a debarker that removes the bark from the logs.
03:07The logs are placed in this enormous debarking drum.
03:10Inside, they collide with each other and against the walls, and the contact removes the bark.
03:16It is a process that lasts 20 minutes.
03:19The bark will be burned to produce the steam needed to make the paper.
03:23The peeled logs exit from the other end onto a conveyor belt that carries them to a cutter that first cuts them and then reduces them to chips.
03:32The largest source of wood chips for paper making comes from recycled sawmill scraps.
03:37The chips are stored temporarily before entering the cooking process.
03:41This storage allows a continuous flow of raw material throughout the manufacturing process.
03:46These five piles contain a total of 30,000 tons of wood.
03:50The next step is to turn those wood chunks into pulp.
03:54The wood chips are transported to the pulp mill on a conveyor belt.
03:57Upon entering the pulp mill, the wood chips are introduced into a digester where they are cooked in an acidic solution to dissolve the linen and separate the plant fibers.
04:06The necessary chemicals for the wood cooking process are prepared and will be used in the digestion stage to separate the linen from the cellulose fibers.
04:16During this step, the linen dissolves, releasing the cellulose fibers and creating a mixture called pulp.
04:22This enormous cylinder is the digester where the wood is cooked for several hours at a temperature of 158 degrees Celsius.
04:30Pulp is the key raw material for paper making and will undergo additional processes to turn it into paper sheets.
04:37Once cooked, the brown pulp exits the digester and is sent to the thickener.
04:42With this spatula, the quality of the brown pulp is modified.
04:45The obtained pulp may contain impurities and remnants of linen.
04:49At this stage, an additional cleaning and defibration are performed to separate the cellulose fibers and remove any unwanted material.
04:57The fibers are washed to remove the acidic solution and the pulp is now soft and fibrous.
05:03Next, it needs to be bleached before it can be used to make white paper.
05:07The pulp is bleached and filtered to remove any remaining linen that would cause the paper to yellow over time.
05:13To protect the environment, this bleaching is chlorine-free, using oxygen and peroxide.
05:19The wood chips that entered the pulp mill have now been turned into a soft white pulp, the main raw ingredient for making paper.
05:27The prepared pulp is taken to the paper machine, where the paper sheet formation process begins.
05:32The paper machine consists of a series of sections and screens, and the pulp is poured onto a continuous mesh, allowing the water to drain and the fibers to interlock to form the sheet.
05:43The water is extracted with this equipment, which operates at a speed of 1,060 meters per minute.
05:49After the initial formation, the paper sheet passes through pressing sections where some of the water is removed.
05:55Next, the sheet passes through heated cylinders that apply pressure and heat to complete the drying process.
06:02This process reduces the water content and provides strength to the sheet.
06:07Between the input and output, the water concentration in the pulp drops from 95% to 5%.
06:15Subsequently, it passes through a calendaring stage, where the paper sheet passes between hot rollers that smooth and improve the uniformity of the paper's surface.
06:25Next, technicians check the paper's quality parameters and note any anomalies.
06:30Throughout the process, quality controls are performed to ensure the paper meets the desired standards.
06:36The weight, strength and smoothness are inspected.
06:40Then, the paper is rolled.
06:42The now dry and formed paper sheet is rewound into large rolls.
06:46These rolls can be cut into smaller sheets according to customer requirements.
06:51With this transfer crane, a full roll is changed for an empty one.
06:55A roll weighs more than 35 tons and contains 60 kilometers of paper.
07:00Some will be delivered as is, while others will go through the paper cutters.
07:04The rolls are sent to the automated warehouse.
07:07The rolls that will be cut later are stored in the warehouse.
07:10Robots guided by rails in the floor feed the paper cutter.
07:14This one produces copier paper.
07:16The robots are controlled from a central computer, operated by technicians.
07:20Then, the paper is cut into standard-sized sheets, or smaller rolls, ready for distribution.
07:26Production reaches 55,000 sheets per minute.
07:30Four automatic receivers and operators check the paper quality before packaging.
07:34The finished paper is packaged according to customer specifications and stored for shipment.
07:39In just one hour, 6,600 packs of printing paper are produced.
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07:58Thanks for watching.