mechanical pulping
Physically shredding wood
Mechanical pulping is a papermaking process that grinds wood into fibers using physical force rather than chemicals.
The wood is pressed against rotating stones or fed through refiners that tear it apart.
This method retains most of the original wood material, including lignin, which makes the resulting paper less durable and prone to yellowing—newsprint is the classic example.
Compare with chemical pulping, which dissolves lignin to produce stronger, more archival paper.
- groundwoodPulp from grinding logs
- grindingMolar action sometimes
- ligninStructural plant polymer
- newsprintLow-grade printing paper
- wood chipsFragmented lumber pieces
energy consumption · high yield · softwood · freeness · screening · thermomechanical · slurry · bark · sawdust · water usage · refining · wood pulp · dewatering · cardboard · kraft paper · recycled paper · disc · packaging materials
- papermakingpulp mills, pulp, paper mill, cellulose, wood pulp
- pulp processingpulp, delignification, digesting, digesters, white liquor