Paper

Paper: A three dimensional network of cellulose fibers, that is often used as a two dimension product, and still adds another dimension to our life. Yes. Paper is a wonderful product. You can crush it, roll it, bend it, fold it, tear it, cut it off, paste it, rub it. If you wish, you may write on it and erase that. But there's one thing you cannot do- Replace it. That is why making paper is important. That is why making paper in the very first time, with the desired quality, with strict quality controls, with better productivity and profitability is important. 

Before that, आइये जानें... कुछ कागज़ के बारे में., 2021

कागज़ के कप में चाय 

सन 1990. मैंने इंजीनियरिंग करने के बाद शिवा पेपर मिल ज्वाइन किया था और वहां पर पहले ही दिन पेपर मशीन पर मशीन के सभी वर्कर्स ने मुझसे चाय की फरमाइश की. जैसा मुझे बताया गया, मैंने उन्हें रुपए दे दिए और एक हेल्पर कैंटीन से चाय लेने चला गया.

कैंटीन से जब वह लौटा तो उसके हाथ में एक चाय की केतली थी; लेकिन कप अथवा गिलास नदारद थे. मैं कुछ सोच पाता उससे पहले ही तुरंत एक अन्य हेल्पर ने पेपर के सैंपल्स को मोड़ना और उनसे कप बनाना प्रारंभ कर दिया.

मुझे आज भी याद है कि उस समय 54 gsm SS Maplitho मशीन पर बन रहा था और उस दिन पहली बार उस तरह के कागज के कप में चाय पीते समय मन में एक अजीब सी हलचल महसूस दे रही थी.

सभी की देखा-देखी चाय पीने के बाद मैंने भी वह कप couch pit में डाल दिया, जिससे रीसायकल होकर दोबारा से कागज बन सके. देखा जाए तो चाय के कप की जिंदगी कुछ मिनट की ही तो है. लेकिन उन चंद मिनटों में यह कितना स्वाद, कितना सुकून, कितनी ऊर्जा दे जाता है हमको. ऐसा स्वाद आज तक कभी बोन चाइना, स्टील के कप अथवा कांच के गिलास में नहीं मिला.

आज यूँ ही अचानक से यह याद आ गया. क्या आपने कभी कागज़ के कप में चाय पी है?

Many people say that paper industry is a big polluter. However, most of the time, they ignore many other industries which are really polluting the environment in a big way, and still go totally unnoticed. Disagree? Have a look at the presentation and decide yourself.

Is Paper Industry a Culprit or Victim

In the present times, what can be the most suitable medium for packaging in terms of better protection from virus? The presentation deals with the issue and opens new thoughts in this area. Please do have a look at it. A Date with a Virus on Paper

Due to its structure, paper is the most safe packing material, particularly when the virus-prone diseases are on the rise. How? Please have a llok- A Concept Note on Anti-Virus Paper, 2020

Some other interesting material:

A Polluting Love Letter, 2018

Paper: Advertisement Suggestions

Kavita Kagaz sa Dost (Hindi)

Alternatives to Plastics: Think Differently

Time to Reinvent the Wheel: Think differently!

Is the paper you use for wrapping foods is safe? Today, we need to develop a paper that is safe for holding foodstuff, while is available under the budget. Please have a look on my views on-

Developing Food Grade Paper

A collection of various images, some downloaded from internet, some images edited to carry text to identify and clarify the good things about paper industry. Please do have a look at these; share if you like. Use Paper Without Guilt

Indian Market Sizes....

Paper               USD 11.5 Billion (2021)

Pesticides     USD 2.80 Billion (2022)

Detergent USD 522.3 Billion (2019)

Textile USD 172.3 Billion (2022)

What should you say? 

Save Paper, Save Environment or 

#UsePaperwithoutGuilt 

Rice and Paper

Typically, one needs nearly 3000-5000 liter water to produce 1 kg rice. With a per capita reported consumption of 105 kg in India, typical daily rice cultivation water requirement becomes 863-1438 liters. Remember the figure is only for rice. There are wheat, pulses, other grains, spices, fruits & vegetables also. Considering this, one may easily guess that agricultural water requirement per person may be more than 5000 liters per person per year.

Similarly, normal daily household water requirement for a person is to the tune of 120-140 liters only.

Against this, now mills use 6-8 kL of water per ton of recycled paper produced; and 40 kL of water per ton of paper manufactured from wood, agri-residue etc. In India, with a typical per capita paper consumption of 20kg; with nearly 80% paper being made by recycling, you need less than 400mL water to make paper for meeting your daily paper requirement.

Paper-  as text, in pictures.
The present e-book is a compilation of some of my whatsapp statuses which are related to paper- either the image, or the text indicate the importance, use affection, significance of paper, as a packaging material, writing material or just a mode of fun.

Please have a look at: Whatsapp Statuses on Paper

Management: 

We gather various experiences during work, during travelling, during vacations, during discussions with friends, and we learn a lot from these experiences if we really wish to do so. It is said that some people learn from their own mistakes, while some learn from other’s mistakes and ensure that problems do not hinder their own path of success. For the second type of people, this book is an effort to present several case studies at one place from various sections of production- process, electrical, mechanical, management, administration etc.

All of the case studies presented here are real, most of these directly observed by me. Please do have a look at- Gathering the Rolling Experiences

E-book "Wipe up that Grease" presents several mechanical engineering case studies (Many case studies related to Paper Industry). 

How reliable is our papermaking process? Some Thoughts on Process Reliability

A Mechanical Problem!

African tribal kidnapped three persons from the forest in their area wandering here and there. The first one was a papermaker, the second was a mechanical engineer and the third was an electrical engineer. The tribe leader  decided to sacrifice the heads of these experts to their Goddess. Long back, they (tribe) had looted a DG set and a guillotine machine, and they decided to use these for the holy task for the first time. As usual, they allowed prisoners to speak to God a last time before being offered for sacrifice. The papermaker, being the first one said, “O God! Please forgive me as I booked most of production loss due to process problems as “due to mechanical fault”. My intention had been that the mechanical engineer is held responsible for the same, every time. Please forgive me.” The guillotine was started, but, there was an abnormal ‘cut’ sound, and it did not work. Tribe leader released the papermaker free considering this incidence as an order from God. Papermaker started dancing saying “Once again a mechanical fault saved my life”.

Then it was the turn of the electrical engineer. He also spoke the similar words, “O God! I also put blame of many electrical faults on mechanical department. Please forgive me for my sins.” Once again, guillotine did not work, and he was released. He also started dancing saying “Once again a mechanical fault saved my life”.

Finally, mechanical engineer was put to guillotine. The mechanical engineer was red in anger over the incidents and being continuously blamed for mechanical faults. In this fury of getting frequently blamed for mechanical faults, he shouted, “O God! I can bet my life that this is not a mechanical problem. It is a simple case of phase reversal. Ask them to replace red and yellow wires, and this guillotine is certainly going to work.”

-With thanks and regards to all mechanical engineers who put their dedication to work to ensure our paper machines run continuously, without any breakdown.

Basis Weight Control

Basis Weight Control for Small Paper Mills, IPPTA, 1996

Monitoring Average Basis Weight of Paper on the Rewinder Using Paper Length Measurement, IPPTA, 2001

Cross Direction Profice Unstability: Evaluation & Correction, IPPTA, 2002

Optimization of Approach Flow for Better GSM Control, IPPTA, 2003

Modelling & Simulation of Approach Flow for GSM Control, IPPTA, 2005

Basis Weight Unstability Evalution & Stabilization Using Process Upgradation, IPPTA, 2008, .pdf

Basis Weight Unstability Evalution & Stabilization Using Process Upgradation, IPPTA, 2008, .ppt

Exclusive: Aiming Better GSM Controls: A Possible Approach, 2021

Performance Analysis of Hydraulic Headbox

Often papermakers find it difficult to calculate 2-sigma values of basis weight they are operating at. This .xls template may be helpful for them. 2 Sigma Template. Download and use freely.

Every papermaker wants to have a basis weight control much better than others. The present article Aiming towards ZERO shows how we can improvise ourselves to get better basis weight control., 2024

Paper Machine Operation

Determination of Doctor Angle, IPPTA, 2003

Determination of Doctor Angle, ppt

Improving Condensate Removal & Collection System, IPPTA, 2004

Closing MG Steam & Condensate System on a Paper Machine, 2004

Energy Audit of Vacuum System, IPPTA, 2007

Energy Audit of Compressor System, IPPTA, 2008

Operational Experiences & Practices of Mild Steel MG Cylinder, IPPTA, 2010

Operational Experiences & Process Optimization for Supercalender, IPPTA, 2010

Supercalender Performance Improvement by Process Optimization

Analysis of Wire Wear Pattern, IPPTA, 2012

Alternate Thoughts on Yankee Stress Relieving, 2014

Case Studies Related to Paper Machine Operation, 2017

Determination of Vacuum Pump Operational Efficiency, 2014

Determination of Doctor Angle, 2014, .ppt

Optimization of Grade Change Process for Minimization of Down Time

Improving Condensate Removal and Collecting System

Closing MG Steam and Condensate System on a Paper Machine 

DIY Guidelines for Optimization of Wire Vacuum

Application and Use of Mild Steel Cylinder for Production of Quality Poster Paper

Alternate Thoughts on Headbox Level Control, Sept. 2022

The paper machines are becoming advanced, operating at higher and higher speeds. Have you noticed only a few felt rolls suffer bearing failures. The small article indicates need to rethink the felt circuit designs to reduce such bearing failures.

Paper Machine Felt Circuits

Estimation of Solid Loss from Paper Machine Wire Part (.xls workbook)

Paper: General

Improving Life of Supercalendar Cotton Rolls, 2014

Proposed Equipment for Flotation Cleaning of High Poly Containing Pulp, 2014

Proposed Modifications in Boiler Feed Tank

Proposed Modifications in Yankee Hood, 2015

Rethinking Approach Flow Screening, 2018

Rethinking Barometric Legs

Rethinking Drainage Element Materials, 2014

Rethinking Micro Travel Shower, 2014

Costing Evaluation for Better Productivity Control

Determination of Doctor Angle

Irrigation using Treated Pulp & Paper Mill Effluent: A Review

Irrigation Using Treated Pulp & Paper Mill Effluent, EAW

Manpower Training in Small Paper Mills

A Primer to Enzyme Activity & Related Terminology

Effluent Colour Reduction Using Boiler Fly Ash from Pet Coke Fired Boiler

Proposed Equipment for Floatation Cleaning of High Poly Containing Pulp

Wet Web Properties .... .... Rice Straw Pulp

Analysis & Simulation of a Multiple Effect Evaporator System

Use of Benchmarking for Better Process Overview & Control, 2005

This presentation indicates how can the felt life be increased on yankee machines.

Some Thoughts on Yankee Paper Machine Felt Life, 2014

Suggestive Improvements in Yankee Internal Design

Voltage Fluctuations & Motor Tripping, 2018

Wrinkles & Piping in Paper, 2014

Application of Data Mining in Pulp & Paper Industry

Determination of Batch Digester Pulp Yield

Hydrapulper Optimization by Two Dimensional Sequential Search

A New Method for Trim Loss Minimization

Rewinder Trim Loss Minimization using Microsoft Excell Spreadsheets

Monitoring of Average Basis Weight of Paper on the Rewinder using Paper Length Measurement

Fuzzy Logic & Sorting of Waste Paper

Mathematical Modelling of Pulper Operation

High Consistency Pulping in Small & Medium Sized Waste Paper Based Mills

Energy Conservation Approaches for Small Paper Mills

Water Audit: With more and more water recycling, and continuously reducing fresh water consumption as well as effluent discharge, the process of water audit is becoming more and more difficult. The present article presents some insight about the same. Issues with Water Audit in Waste Paper Based Paper Mills

Most of the paper mills fire mishaps take place in March-April every year, when the temperature starts rising and the humidity drops to minimum. This article presents some fresh views to understand this particular behaviour and to explore possible ways to minimize fire incidents. Some Thoughts on Fire Safety for Paper Mills

Misc. Articles

Optimization of Diesel Consumption in Small Paper Mills based on DG sets

Investigation of Error in measurement of Diesel Consumption for Continuously Running DG Sets

Improvement of Power Factor by using a Microprocessor Based Control System

Process Energy Conservation by Optimization of Wire Vacuum

Time to Reinvent the Wheel: Think differently!

Thinking Beyond FPR

Effects of Excess Dosage of Retention Aids 

Dryer Section Possible Energy Saving Inspired from Lawn Sprinkler

Developing Norms for Food Grade Paper

Improving Micro-Travel Showers, Sept. 2022

कागज़ रीसाइक्लिंग में क्लोज्ड लूप सिस्टम की आवश्यकता, 

(My first Hindi article published in CPPRI's magazine, कर्गद भारती, April-June, 2022)

My thoughts about the recent Coal Ban for NCR region:

Coal Ban: A Way Forward

My thoughts about-

Should Treated Effluent Discharge Standards for Paper Mills be Made Stricter

Mills Profitability and You, July 2023

(Some food for thought for paper mill professionals)

Something different... Learning, refining., 2023

Refining of Whatsapp Statuses

Many paper professionals really appreciate the dewatering ability of Bagalley Box. However, on internet adequate information is not available about it. The present article discusses the possibility to reposition it to get better results. Please do have a look at the article- Bagalley Box Position Changing, September 2023

Sometimes, we keep on following the conventional practices, while the solution may require a thinking in slightly different direction. The article is an initial thought in a different direction towards making paper of higher strength. 

Time to Untie β-1,4 Glycosidic Bonds

Is it not the time to rethink about Schopper-Riegler (SR) test, at least for waste paper based mills? An initial article was shared a week ago, and I got several positive responses. Now sharing the updated version of the same here-

Schopper-Riegler

Mini-plastic in paper is a big issue for good quality printing applications. Please do have a look at my latest article on this- 

Exodus Cleaner: A Concept Note to Solve Mini-plastic Problem in Paper

With a foul smell and unpleasant sound, fart makes the person farting as well as the person nearby uncomfortable. But often the person who farts, feels a little happier after farting. Shouldn't the steam and condensate system on your paper machine be able to fart? Please do have a look at my recent post "Do you allow your steam and condensate system to fart?"

Improved machines, improved automation, improved management systems; improvement in every aspect of our industrial life is a must now. However, often the existing menpower remain neglected in the whole improvement exercise. If you want to make good product, if you want to give good services, each one of your team member is equally important. Read more about this in the article- A Local Taxi Driver to Drive your SUV 

Wire part vacuum control is tricky. Manually, you adjust vacuum in one box, and vacuum in other boxes is affected in other direction. It is something like balancing several wine glasses on your hand. However, with automation, it  becomes easier to control, fine tune and optimize vacuum in wire part. Please do have a look at the following article-  Energy Conservation by Automation of Wire Vacuum System

The following lectures were presented at 10th RSC-DCPPAI Training Program organized by CPPRI, at Kashipur (November 28-29, 2024)-

Improved Process Control by Automation of Wire Vacuum System

Improving the Quality of Press Part Vacuum Management

Paper machine speeds are increasing, water systems are being closed and more closed, and hence the problems of deposits and slime. Caustic boil out, to a great extent helps maintaining the system cleaner. But, still, its procedure is not well established and documented. The present article entitled- My Views on Caustic Boil Out Procedure is an effort to explain and clarify my views on this. Dec. 2024

Tomorrow, December 21st is celebrated as World Saree Day. A good saree, usually is digitally printed by transferring the print design that has already been printed on a special grade of paper- Sublimation Paper. Isn't now obvious that the quality of this paper, as well as its base paper are also very important to produce a good saree? Please do have a look at my recent post "Right Base Paper for Sublimation paper"

And yes! whenever you appreciate a woman wearing a good printed saree, do not forget to thank a papermaker. Dec. 2024 

Everyone loves taking a shower. The bath soap is cruelly stripped off the wrapper, and the wrapper is thrown away. Sharing my thoughts about soap wrapper here. Please do have a look. Soap Wrapper, Jan. 2025

Industry is moving from manual controls, simple automation to advance level of automation and using AI for better process control. However, the need of human intelligence must not be ignored. Recent article- Beyond Automation: Infusing Human Intelligence into Paper Manufacturing shows the substantial savings in steam consumption achieved after infusion of human intelligence in a conventional control system. In addition to serving the purpose of a live energy audit tool, the installed system also highlighted the possible ways to increase production without any major investment, on the existing paper machine. Feb. 2025

Paper machine wire part drainage analysis is an important tool to determine wire part drainage efficiency and improve upon the operating conditions to achieve best results. But, can there be some automation which can do the drainage analysis online, on a continuous basis? Please do have a look on my recent post about it- A Concept Note for Live Drainage Analysis on Wire Part, March 2025

Copy of my presentation made during the training programme on Paper/Paperboardfor Packaging of Liquid Items- Trends, Prospects and Way Foreward on June 24, 2022 at LHC 621, IIT Delhi.

Paper Packaging for Liquid- Challenges, Issues and Possibilities

Using paper for voting your favourable candidate was the past. India introduced EVMs which has been proven to be very successful and made the election process smoother. Still, greed to seek alternates, to explore something new, something better is must for any society. A concept using a hybrid of paper with electronics for voting system has been explained here in this concept note. 

A Concept Note on Development of Paper Based Voting System

Website Reviews

FPTA Link: https://fptaindia.in/

Website of FPTA (Federation of all Paper Traders’ Associations) provides good information about paper, its history, invention of paper, history about the materials used for writing from 3000BC to present. It also presents a lot of information regarding myths about paper and clarifies nicely. 100s of different types of papers have been shown in the website. In addition, commonly used sizes (as per market demand) are shown. Of course, the description about A3, A4 sizes could have been added to make it more informative. There is a calculator section too, but in fact it gives just a few formulae by which calculations can be made. Online calculator could have made it better. The website also indicates various paper related parameters and their dimensions. There is a good glossary of the terms being used related to paper.

For a newbie, this is a good and recommended website to visit.

PAPERONWEB Link: https://www.paperonweb.com/

Paper on web is a heavy (big) website, which describe itself as "PULP & PAPER RESOURCES & INFORMATION SITE". This website is being managed by Mr. Hari Goyal, who himself is a senior paper technologist. This website has a lot of information about the pulp mills, paper mills, converters, chemical manufacturers, machinery and control system suppliersetc. In addition, there are specific pages for-

MANUFACTURERS, PULP, PAPER, CONVERTERS, CHEMICALS, MACHINERY, CONTROL SYSTEM, SERVICE PROVIDERS, DISTRIBUTORS/TRADERS, CONSULTANTS, EMPLOYMENT, WASTE MANAGEMENT, TESTING, REPAIR , SCHOOLS, ORGANIZATIONS

It is also possible to go the the concerned supplier/mills website from the link provided in the concerned pages. There are other sections like-

PAPER INFORMATION, ABBREVIATION, DICTIONARY, ASK HARRY, PULP &PAPER GRADES, PULP &PAPER PROPERTIES, WASTE PAPER GRADES, PAPER MAKING PROCESS, ARTICLES, RAW MATERIALS, MAGAZINES, CONFERENCES, COUNTRY WISE STAT.

I specifically checked the data for India, but that is still not updated with the last data available for year 2019. Along with data, the source is also mentioned as wikipedia. Being the website running on advertisement (yes, advertisers may also contact website owner to showcast their advertisements) ocassional pop-up advertisement seem irritating sometimes. There are a lot of technical articles uploaded on the website. Publication of an article is relatively simple there- just send an email to the website owner with article as attachment, and it is uploaded within a couple of days.

This is really an interesting website.

IPPTA Link: https://ippta.co/

IPPTA stands for (Indian Pulp & Paper Technical Association), and for gaining the technical knowledge, the website is really a useful one. There are articles publised at other platforms, misc. news and other information, latest data on paper production in India, membership information and how to become a member. E-Library directs to several IPPTA journals where these can be read in e-flip book reader format. SOme articles might be difficult to read in e-flip format; for such articles, either the download facility could have been provided or the facility of zoom and pan could make it easier to read and understand the articles (at least on a payment basis). Not only this, all the papers published in IPPTA Journal have been made publically available. As links of 100s of published technical articles are there on the website, the facility to use keyword search makes it easier for the surfers to find the article(s) of their interest easily.

The website is updated regularly , and is really worth spending some time as an investment for future by gaining good information and knowledge for all paper professionals.

Disclaimer: The views are my own views and shared here without any prejudice.

Email Footer

Often we get emails with a footer. Sometimes, the footer contain something like this-

If you print this email, don't forget to RECYCLE.

Recycling 1000 kg of paper saves 17 trees, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of Oil, 7,000 gallons of Water and 4,100 kilowatt hours of Electricity - enough energy to Power the average homes for 5 months. Please do not print this email unless really necessary.

Is it true? Let us have a look at some of the data values.

“Recycling 1000 kg of paper saves 17 trees.” That means just 59kg paper from one tree. Considering a yield of 25-35% depending upon the type of processing and paper grade manufactured, the weight of wood from one tree comes out to be just 200kg. Do you think the weight of a full grown tree trunk shall be just this?

Recycling 1000 kg of paper saves 7,000 gallons of Water. That is equivalent to 25kL of water saved compared to recycling. This seems OK. However, as the most of the production now has switched over to recycling (>83% in India), the average water consumption has come down to just 20% of it. 

Recycling 1000 kg of paper saves 4,100 kilowatt hours of Electricity. Thanks to energy conservation approaches, Indian paper mills are making paper with very little energy. Typical figures stand somewhere between 1500-2000kWH/T, and even below 400kWH per ton for recycled paper.

Saving is always good. But sharing incorrect data to promote saving is not.

Instead, you may consider any of these-

जिस देश में दुनिया की पंद्रह प्रतिशत आबादी हो, और कागज़ की खपत दुनिया की मात्र एक या दो प्रतिशत, उस महान देश के, पर्यावरण के लिए स्वतः जागरूक एक समझदार नागरिक को प्रत्येक ईमेल में "कागज़ बचाओ" की अपील करना मैं अर्थहीन समझता हूँ. मुझे आप पर पूर्ण भरोसा है कि पर्यावरण के लिए आप अपनी जिम्मेदारी का पालन करते थे, करते हैं, और भविष्य में भी करते रहेंगे.

or

India has more than 17% of world's population; but consumes less than 2% of world's paper. Use paper, recycle paper. However, no wastage please!

or

An Indian uses 20kg paper every year, while in some countries they use 250-300kg. The world average is above 60kg. Use more paper, Recycle more paper.

or

World's average paper consumption is 60kg per person per year. In India, we use around 20kg per person per year. I am proud of my country. Use more Paper, recycle more paper, but don’t take unnecessary printouts.

Or

It’s OK to print this e-mail, in case you need it. In India, more than 80% of paper is being manufactured using waste paper recycling. I trust that, when you are through, you'd remember to recycle it.

If you come across a good email footer, please do share it with me.