Paper and Pulp mills
The paper production:
In principle, the process of making paper is simple. Wood chips are converted to pulp which in turn is processed to create paper, cardboard and a range of other products. In reality, the processes are a complex mix of chemical and physical reactions which take place in both batch and continuous mode. The capital cost of the plant is high, skilled operators are required and the potential for environmental degradation throughout the value chain is huge.
World demand for paper and paperboard is forecast to grow from the current 300 million tons to over 420 million tons by the year 2010 or an average growth rate of 2.8% per annum. The world’s major pulp and paper producers are: North America (USA and Canada), South America (Brazil, Chile and Argentina), Europe (particularly Scandinavia ), Asia ad the CIS. The combined share of North America and Western Europe of global paper and paperboard production has declined since 1980 from about 67% to 62% while the combined production of Latin America and Asia (excluding Japan) has increased from about 11% to 22%. This trend is expected to continue, with the focus of production growth gradually shifting closer to the regions of faster paper consumption growth.
The world biggest paper and pulp mills:
The wood is coming from the deep-water port of Nueva Palmira, and from a terminal further to the east of the factory. The pulp in the factory itself is also exported with the use of this harbour:
Port of Nueva Palmira:
Terminal Logística M'Bopicuá:
The eucalyptus trees this facility is using:
An even bigger one is near Pangkalan Kerinci in the Riau Province on Sumatra in Indonesia. This paper and pulp mill which is called; APRIL Indonesia, is situated on a 1,750 hectare site. APRIL operations include pulp and paper mills, an integrated chemical plant, and a power plant that generates all the energy for the complex, mostly from bio-fuel. The Kraft pulp mill is the biggest single-site pulp mill in the world with a capacity of 2 million tons per year:
Other huge Pulp and paper mills can be found in North America, Scandinavia, China, and Russia. For example this one in Ashdown Arkansas, USA is the largest integrated manufacturer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America and the second largest in the world based on production capacity. Domtar Ashdown employs 1,100 people and its operations include four paper machines and two pulp lines. In Europe the biggest one is this pulp and paper mill in the city of Koryazhma in Russia. The rated capacity of the Koryazhma Branch is 938,000 tons of pulp and 255,000 tons of containerboard per year. Due to the upgrade the Mill's annual pulp production has been exceeding 1 million tons every year since 2005:
Other big ones in Europe can be found in Finland. 3/4 of the total land area of Finland is wood, and so the producing of paper is the biggest industry here. This facility from UPM ( One of the world biggest producer of paper ) in Kaukas in finland is among the biggest mills in the world:
Another big paper and pulp mill is found in ulst-Ilimsk. This mill accounts for approximately 30% of market pulp production in Russia. The Mill exports up to 90% of its total output of bleached pulp to Europe and Asia. There are some kind of giant saw machines on the complex here.
