Forest product industry paper mills

Forest products industries know that temperature increases in piles of sawdust and bark. In pulp and paper mills, self-heating develops in amassed tree chips. Paper rolls stacked hot tend to self-heat, as occasionally do stored bales of waste paper. The wood-base panel products particleboard, hardboard, and fiberboard self-heat after being stacked too hot in the factory. Where in structures the framing lumber, wood-base panels, and lignocellulosic insulation is heated by items such as steam pipes, temperatures tend to rise above that of the heat source. 

The various requirements for the production of paper are not met everywhere. For instance, suitable raw materials must be available, including water, energy, and trained personnel. Furthermore, the construction of paper mills requires a very high investment, and a sufficiently large market and a favorable location are both essential prerequisites for economic papermaking. For these reasons, the modern paper industry is based mainly in the coniferous forest zone of the Northern Hemisphere, with centers in Europe, North America, and in Japan. 

Because of the high demand of biofuels in the present situation, several biorefineries have been established based on the availability of agriculture and forest products and also in efforts to utilize wastes obtainable from the paper and pulp industry, sugar mills, etc. (Cherubini et al., 2009). This system yields transportation fuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol, platform chemicals, and some chemical intermediates for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Since the Phase III biorefineries are the ones that may be expected to serve as an all-in-one source of food, feed, and platform chemicals, the various known forms of Phase 111 biorefineries are discussed in some detail below. 

As of 1995, the forest industry in the United States employed about 1.6 million people and produced products valued at over 200 biUion each year, approximately 20 biUion of which was in exports. There were 350 pulp mills, 600 paper and board mills, and ca 4500 converting plants in the United States producing ca 30% of the total world production. The United States and Western Europe, which represent ca 13% of the world population, consumed about 60% of production. 

In 1993, nearly 36 million tons of paper were recovered in the United States, twice as much as in 1980 (54). For the first time, more paper was recovered in the United States than landfilled. As a result, 11 million fewer tons of paper were landfilled in the United States in 1993 than in 1987. This saved more than 69 x 106 m3 (90 x 106 yd3) of landfill space. In 1995, recovered paper accounted for 31.5% of the fiber used to manufacture 84.1 million metric tons of paper products (54). Annual capital spending for paper recycling projects from 1995 to the year 2000 is estimated to average 2 billion (55). The American Forest Paper Association (AF PA) estimates U.S. consumption of recovered paper will increase 4.9% per year through the year 2000, neady twice the total paper industry capacity growth rate (56). Consumption of recovered paper in U.S. mills in 1997 is estimated at 35.6 million tons (57). 

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