The first step of paper production: From logs to chips
How paper is made - the step from logs to chips. Animated with English voiceover. Open video on YouTube.
From pulpwood logs to chips
Pulpwood logs come from sustainable forests located quite close to both of Holmen's mills, normally within a radius of about 150 km. This is positive for two reasons, first it keeps the transport distances, and associated fuel emissions, low. And second, it means the wood is quite fresh when arriving at the mill which helps produce higher brightness paper.
The logs are then fed into the massive debarking drum, which removes the bark, which is not useful for papermaking but is a very good biofuel that can be used both at the mill or sold to other power generating companies for burning as a biofuel.
The logs then go through screens to remove any stones or metal objects that could be harmful to the process.
Next, the debarked cleaned logs are then fed into the chipper, which is an immense, rapidly rotating disc plate containing razor-sharp knives. The chipper chews up the logs at the incredible rate of 1.3 m/sec, cutting them into small woodchips measuring 22 mm wide and high, with a thickness of 5-6 mm. Following careful screening of the chips to ensure they are all approximately the same size, they are then sent to massive storage silos, before the pulping step.
The papermaking process
Step 1: From logs to chips
The pulpwood enters the mill and is washed, debarked, cut and chipped before moving on to the pulping step.
From logs to chipsStep 2: From chips to pulp
The wood chips are steamed, refined, relaxed and bleached before entering the paper machine.
From chips to pulpStep 3: From pulp to paper
The paper pulp enters the paper machine and exits as a finished sheet of paper after just 15 seconds.
From pulp to paper