Paper engineering - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For other uses, see Paper folding
Paper folding
Paper craft is the collection of art forms employing paper or card as the primary artistic medium for the creation of three-dimensional objects. It is the most widely used material in arts and crafts. It lends itself to a wide range of techniques, it can for instance be folded, cut, glued,...

Paper engineering is a branch of engineering that deals with the usage of physical science

Physical science

Physical science is an encompassing term for the branches of natural science and science that study non-living systems, in contrast to the life sciences...

(e.g. chemistry and physics) and life sciences (e.g. biology

Biology

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

and biochemistry

Biochemistry

Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...

) in conjunction with mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

as applied to the converting of renewable raw materials into useful and valuable products. The field applies various principles in process engineering

Process engineering

Process engineering focuses on the design, operation, control, and optimization of chemical, physical, and biological processes through the aid of systematic computer-based methods...

and unit operations to the manufacture of paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

, chemicals

Paper chemicals

-Optical brightening agent:Optical brightener is used to make paper appear more white. Optical brightening agents use fluorescence to absorb invisible radiation from the ultraviolet part of the light spectrum and re-emit the radiation as light in the visible blue range. The optical brightening...

, energy

Energy

In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...

and related materials. The following timeline shows some of the key steps in the development of the science of chemical and bioprocess engineering:

From a heritage perspective, the field encompasses the design and analysis of a wide variety of thermal, chemical and biochemical unit operations employed in the manufacture of pulp and paper, and addresses the preparation of its raw materials from trees or other natural resources via a pulp

Wood pulp

Pulp is a lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibres from wood, fibre crops or waste paper. Wood pulp is the most common raw material in papermaking.-History:...

ing process, chemical and mechanical pretreatment of these recovered biopolymer

Biopolymer

Biopolymers are polymers produced by living organisms. Since they are polymers, Biopolymers contain monomeric units that are covalently bonded to form larger structures. There are three main classes of biopolymers based on the differing monomeric units used and the structure of the biopolymer formed...

(e.g. principally, although not solely, cellulose

Cellulose

Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β linked D-glucose units....

-based) fibers in a fluid suspension, the high-speed forming and initial dewatering of a non-woven web, the development of bulk sheet properties via control of energy and mass transfer operations, as well as post-treatment of the sheet with coating, calendering, and other chemical and mechanical processes.

Applications

Today, the field of paper and chemical engineering is applied to the manufacture of a wide variety of products. The (bio)chemical industry

Chemical industry

The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials into more than 70,000 different products.-Products:...

scope manufactures organic and agrochemicals (fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides), oleochemicals, fragrances and flavors, food, feed

Feed

Feed may refer to:In animal foodstuffs:* Compound feed, feedstuffs that are blended from various raw materials and additives* Fodder , any foodstuff that is used specifically to feed domesticated livestockIn computing:...

, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, chemicals, polymers and power from biological materials.

The resulting products of paper engineering including paper, cardboard, and various paper derivatives are widely used in everyday life. In addition to being a subset of chemical engineering, the field of paper engineering is closely linked to forest management

Forest management

200px|thumb|right|[[Sustainable development|Sustainable]] forest management carried out by [[Complejo Forestal y Maderero Panguipulli|Complejo Panguipulli]] has contributed to the preservation of the forested landscape around [[Neltume]], a sawmill town in Chile...

, product recycling

Recycling

Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...

, and the mass production of paper - based media.

Mechanical pulping

In the process of mechanical pulping, "grinding" and "refining" are the two main methods used to create the pulp. "Grinding" refers to the method of pressing logs and chips against a turning stone to produce fibers. “Refiner pulping” is the term used to describe the treatment of wood – chips with chemicals or heat, then crushing the objects between two disks, one or both of which are rotating. There are four main types of "Refiner pulping", which include Refiner Mechanical Pulping, Thermo – mechanical Pulping, Chemi – mechanical Pulping, and Chemi – thermomechanical pulping. Further descriptions of each process are contained in this link:
Mechanical pulping, when compared to chemical pulping, is relatively inexpensive and has a high pulp yield (85-95%). However, the paper created is generally weak since it retains the lignin.

Chemical pulping

The process of chemical pulping is used to chemically disband the lignin

Lignin

Lignin or lignen is a complex chemical compound most commonly derived from wood, and an integral part of the secondary cell walls of plants and some algae. The term was introduced in 1819 by de Candolle and is derived from the Latin word lignum, meaning wood...

found in the cell walls of the material undergoing the process. After the cellulose

Cellulose

Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β linked D-glucose units....

fibers are separated from the lignin, a pulp is created which can then be treated to create durable paper, boxes, and corrugated cardboard. Chemical pulping can be characterized by two main methods: sulfate (Kraft

Kraft

Kraft has more than one meaning:* Kraft Foods, the world's third largest food and beverage company by revenue* Kraft process, a paper pulp production method* Kraft paper, paper produced by the Kraft process* Kraft , a video game character...

) pulping and sulfite pulping, and these two methods have different benefits. Sulfate pulping can be performed on a wide range of tree varieties and results in the creation of a strong type of paper. Conversely, sulfite pulping results in a higher volume of pulp which is easier to bleach and process. However, sulfate pulping is more widely used since the product is more durable and the chemicals used in the process can be recovered, thus resulting in minimal environmental pollution.

Further pulp processing

The pulp is then processed through an apparatus which renders the pulp as a mesh of fibers. This fiber network is then pressed to remove all water contents, and the paper is subsequently dried to remove all traces of moisture.

Finishing

After the above processes have been completed, the resulting paper is coated with a minuscule amount of china clay or calcium carbonate

Calcium carbonate

Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found in rocks in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, coal balls, pearls, and eggshells. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime,...

to modify the surface, and the paper is then re-sized depending on its intended purpose.

Product recycling

Generally, the material to be recycled first undergoes mechanical or chemical pulping to render it in pulp form. The resulting pulp is then processed in the same way normal pulp is processed; however, original fiber is sometimes added to enhance the quality and appearance of the product.

Related fields and topics

Today, the field of paper and bioprocess engineering is a diverse one, covering areas from biotechnology

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...

and nanotechnology

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...

to electricity generation

Electricity generation

Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...

Agricultural engineering
Agricultural engineering
Agricultural engineering is the engineering discipline that applies engineering science and technology to agricultural production and processing...
Biomolecular engineering
Biochemical engineering
Biochemical engineering
Biochemical engineering is a branch of chemical engineering or biological engineering that mainly deals with the design and construction of unit processes that involve biological organisms or molecules, such as bioreactors...
Biological engineering
Biological engineering
Biological engineering, biotechnological engineering or bioengineering is the application of concepts and methods of biology to solve problems in life sciences, using engineering's own analytical and synthetic methodologies and also its traditional...
Chemical process modeling
Chemical process modeling
Chemical process modeling is a computer modeling technique used in chemical engineering process design. It typically involves using purpose-built software to define a system of interconnected components, which are then solved so that the steady-state or dynamic behavior of the system can be...
Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...
Chemical reactor
Chemical reactor
In chemical engineering, chemical reactors are vessels designed to contain chemical reactions. The design of a chemical reactor deals with multiple aspects of chemical engineering. Chemical engineers design reactors to maximize net present value for the given reaction...
Computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics, usually abbreviated as CFD, is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate the interaction of liquids and gases with...
Corrosion engineering
Corrosion engineering
Corrosion Engineering is the specialist discipline of applying scientific knowledge, natural laws and physical resources in order to design and implement materials, structures, devices, systems and procedures to manage the natural phenomenon known as corrosion. Corrosion engineering groups have...
Environmental engineering
Environmental engineering
Environmental engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to improve the natural environment , to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to remediate polluted sites...
Fluid dynamics
Fluid dynamics
In physics, fluid dynamics is a sub-discipline of fluid mechanics that deals with fluid flow—the natural science of fluids in motion. It has several subdisciplines itself, including aerodynamics and hydrodynamics...
Food engineering
Food engineering
Food engineering is a multidisciplinary field of applied physical sciences which combines science, microbiology, and engineering education for food and related industries. Food engineering includes, but is not limited to, the application of agricultural engineering, mechanical engineering and...
Forest engineering
Heat transfer
Heat transfer
Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns the exchange of thermal energy from one physical system to another. Heat transfer is classified into various mechanisms, such as heat conduction, convection, thermal radiation, and phase-change transfer...
Mass transfer
Mass transfer
Mass transfer is the net movement of mass from one location, usually meaning a stream, phase, fraction or component, to another. Mass transfer occurs in many processes, such as absorption, evaporation, adsorption, drying, precipitation, membrane filtration, and distillation. Mass transfer is used...
Materials science
Materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...
Microfluidics
Microfluidics
Microfluidics deals with the behavior, precise control and manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a small, typically sub-millimeter, scale.Typically, micro means one of the following features:* small volumes...
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
Natural environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
Polymer
Polymer
A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...

s
Process control
Process control
Process control is a statistics and engineering discipline that deals with architectures, mechanisms and algorithms for maintaining the output of a specific process within a desired range...
Process design
Process development
Safety engineering
Safety engineering
Safety engineering is an applied science strongly related to systems engineering / industrial engineering and the subset System Safety Engineering...
Separation process
Separation process
In chemistry and chemical engineering, a separation process, or simply a separation, is any mass transfer process used to convert a mixture of substances into two or more distinct product mixtures, at least one of which is enriched in one or more of the mixture's constituents. In some cases, a...

es
Textile engineering
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a physical science that studies the effects on material bodies, and on radiation in regions of space, of transfer of heat and of work done on or by the bodies or radiation...
Transport Phenomena
Transport Phenomena
Transport Phenomena is the first textbook that is about transport phenomena. It is specifically designed for chemical engineering students...
Unit operations
Water technology

Colleges and universities

Generally offered as a specialization within chemical engineering

United States
- Auburn University
  Auburn University
  Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
- Georgia Institute of Technology
  Georgia Institute of Technology
  The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
- Miami University
  Miami University
  Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
- North Carolina State University
  North Carolina State University
  North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...
- SUNY ESF
- University of Maine
  University of Maine
  The University of Maine is a public research university located in Orono, Maine, United States. The university was established in 1865 as a land grant college and is referred to as the flagship university of the University of Maine System...
- University of Minnesota
  University of Minnesota
  The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
- University of Washington
  University of Washington
  University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
- University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point
- Western Michigan University
  Western Michigan University
  Western Michigan University is a public university located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1903 by Dwight B. Waldo, and as of the Fall 2010 semester, its enrollment is 25,045....

Canada
- École Polytechnique de Montréal
  École Polytechnique de Montréal
  The École Polytechnique de Montréal is an engineering school/faculty affiliated with the University of Montreal in Montreal, Canada. It ranks first in Canada for the scope of its engineering research. It is occasionally referred to as Montreal Polytechnic, although in Quebec English its French...
- McGill University
  McGill University
  Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
- McMaster University
  McMaster University
  McMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...
- University of British Columbia
  University of British Columbia
  The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
- University of New Brunswick
  University of New Brunswick
  The University of New Brunswick is a Canadian university located in the province of New Brunswick. UNB is the oldest English language university in Canada and among the first public universities in North America. The university has two main campuses: the original campus founded in 1785 in...
- Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
  Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
  The Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières , established in 1969 is a campus of the Université du Québec, located in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. The university has 12,500 students in 8 different campuses, including the main one in Trois-Rivières. About 1000 of them come from overseas, from 60...
- University of Toronto
  University of Toronto
  The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

Europe
- Grenoble INP
- Helsinki University of Technology
  Helsinki University of Technology
  Aalto University School of Science and Technology , was the temporary name for Helsinki University of Technology during the process of forming the Aalto University...
- Lund Institute of Technology
  Lund Institute of Technology
  The Faculty of Engineering is one of the eight faculties at Lund University in Lund, Sweden, commonly called LTH . LTH was originally established as an independent institute in 1961, but was incorporated in Lund University as a faculty in 1969...
- Tampere University of Technology
- Technische Universitat Graz
- Technical University of Łódź
- University of Manchester
  University of Manchester
  The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

Asia-Pacific
- Monash University
  Monash University
  Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
- Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
- South China University of Technology
  South China University of Technology
  South China University of Technology is a Chinese university located in Guangzhou, capital of the Guangdong province. In 1999, SCUT ranked No...