We all use tissue paper and toilet paper daily, but have you ever wondered how these pieces, an essential part of our everyday lives, are made? Here is everything about tissue paper and toilet paper making, from the raw materials used to manufacturing. In addition, some interesting historical facts will blow your mind.
Toilet paper and tissue are utilised for more than just hygiene; they are also helpful for cleaning up spills, removing makeup and performing modest bathroom cleanup tasks. Paper towels, napkins, toilet paper, and facial tissues are all sanitary papers and personal items that must be clean and hygienic. They are created from different mixtures of bleached kraft pulps with just a tiny amount of the stock being refined. This makes them bulky, soft, and absorbent. This blog covers everything about toilet paper and tissue paper making and uses.
Did you know? Toilet paper was not always sold in rolls. It was first manufactured in England in 1880 and sold as individual sheets; the average roll nowadays contains around 333 sheets.
The earliest known usage of tissue paper in human history dates back to the 6th century AD, in early medieval China. This is despite the fact that paper was used as a wrapping and cushioning material in China as early as the 2nd century BC. A Philadelphia instructor significantly contributed to developing and distributing contemporary toilet tissue paper in 1907. She was worried about a small cold outbreak in her class and attributed it to every kid sharing a single cotton towel. She then started cutting up paper into squares that her class used as individual towels.
After learning about this instructor, Arthur Scott of the Scott Paper Company decided to attempt and sell the entire carload of paper. He cut the thick paper into tiny sheets the size of a towel and offered them for sale as disposable paper towels. Later, he changed the product's name to Sani-Towel and began selling it to lodging establishments, eateries, and railroad stations for use in public restrooms.
Raw Material for Tissue Paper
The tissue paper manufacturing process requires many precise steps, from procuring all the raw materials and equipment to manufacturing the tissue paper. Let us discuss the whole process of tissue paper making in detail, from the raw materials used to all the steps taken.
Let us answer the question, “What is tissue paper made of?"
- Jumbo Paper Rolls: Jumbo paper rolls are big rolls of light, thin paper used in paper goods production.
- Corepaper: The cardboard or paper tubes that serve as the roll's inner core are called here. The core gives it shape and stability when the tissue paper is rolled up.
- Wrapping Paper: For packaging and shipping purposes, tissue paper may be wrapped in more paper.
- Glue: To bind the paper fibres together and produce a stronger, more cohesive result, glue is frequently employed in tissue paper production.
- Cellophane: This thin, transparent cellulose film makes the tissue paper glossy or ornamental.
- Water: Water is used to mix the paper pulp and promote the bonding of the paper fibres.
Tissue paper raw material is identical for consumer and commercial tissue paper manufacturers. In contrast to the latter, which is utilised in public places like restaurants, workplaces, salons, and hotels, the former is employed on a personal basis by people in their homes, cars, and other places.
Also Read: A Brief Guide on Class 16 Trademark: Paper, Books and Stationery
Machinery and Equipment Required
After procuring the raw materials, machinery and equipment are required to start manufacturing. Here are the machinery and equipment required to start the manufacturing process.
- Power Requirements: Most of the equipment runs at 440 volts, 50 hertz, and 2.2 kilowatts.
- Working Width: There are five working widths: 20, 270, 300, 330, and 400 centimetres. You must determine which one you need.
- Paper-folding Machine: Machines cut and fold the paper sheet into the correct size and form.
- Printing and embossing equipment: Used in line with the production.
- Transmission: Most machines use 'timing belts' for the gearbox.
Tissue Paper Factory must first determine the amount of production, then, if necessary, get proper technical guidance before purchasing. Nearly all machine makers offer to train the owner and staff throughout the process.
How Is Tissue Paper Made?
Now that all the raw materials are collected, and all the equipment and machinery are arranged, it's time to start the process of making tissue paper. The process is divided into three steps: pulping, pressing, and converting. We will discuss each process here in detail.
1. Pulping
- Trees are uprooted and chopped into chips, crushed into fine flakes, and soaked and separated (retted). Paper pulp is produced from recycled or wood fibre.
- These tiny retted flakes are mixed with plenty of water, chemicals, and other ingredients in a mixer tank to produce.
- While the wood pulp is still in the mixing tank, the manufacturer adds chemicals like sodium sulphide, limestone, and others to soften, strengthen, or colour the paper.
2. Pressing
- The pulp is then put through swiftly rotating belts constructed of very porous materials pulled over enormous steam-heated drums. The pulp is applied continuously and evenly throughout the width of the drum or belt. The pores on the belt allow all the water to escape, leaving just the delicate fabric made of fibres.
- The tissue is then put on a huge hot roller, a Yankee. The cloth dries almost instantly due to the heat from the Yankee.
- The tissue paper is then placed onto a core to create a roll with a huge diameter.
- Adjusting the roll's draw speed allows you to create thicker or thinner tissue depending on your objectives.
- After that, the rolls are loaded onto the converting device.
3. Converting
- A tissue sample is obtained, its plies are separated, and it is then run through an embossing roller.
- Toilet paper is softened by embossing, which may also be used to make aesthetically pleasing designs.
- The plies are taken off and glued back together. The tissue is then cut with doctor's blades so the sheets can be easily separated.
- The tissue can then be formed into cylindrical rolls or flat surfaces by being twisted around a cardboard tube.
- A wide range of roll sizes and sheet counts are produced on the winding machines.
- A big spinning doctor blade cuts the enormous roll into smaller rolls as it is fed through a doctoring machine.
Tissue Paper Uses
Now that tissue paper is made, it is sent to the market for consumers to use. There are many ways tissue paper can be used.
Some of the ways are:
- Tissue paper is frequently used for gift wrapping because it adds an elegant touch and helps safeguard fragile products.
- Cleaning various surfaces, including counters, windows, and mirrors, is one of the most common uses of tissue paper.
- You may make paper flowers and decorations from tissue paper and use them for various crafts.
- The tissue paper may also be used for personal hygiene tasks, including wiping down surfaces after a runny nose or removing makeup.
History of Toilet Paper
Toilet paper is a necessary part of maintaining hygiene. Do you know the history of toilet paper? Let me explain. The British Perforated Paper Company invented toilet paper, a relatively recent product that first appeared in 1880. It was sold in boxes of individual squares and made of rougher paper than its present iteration.
As early as 1890, the Scott Paper Company in America began producing toilet paper rolls under the Waldorf name. The early rolls were not perforated, and toilet paper was cut as needed by the lavatory dispensers' serrated teeth. For years, it was almost "unmentionable" as a product, and customers were often ashamed to ask for it by name or even be seen purchasing it. Despite the fact that it can now be scented, embossed, or coloured and perforated, toilet paper hasn't changed much in the 120 years since it was invented. Recently, toilet paper makers increased the number of sheets per roll, allowing consumers to replace the roll less frequently.
Raw Materials Used for Manufacturing Toilet Paper
The process of manufacturing toilet paper starts with procuring raw materials so that it is made with precision.
Here are the raw materials required to manufacture tissue paper.
- Most toilet paper is produced using a mix of softwood and hardwood trees, hence new or "virgin" paper.
- Softwood plants like Douglas firs and Southern pines have long fibres that wrap around one another, giving paper its strength.
- Shorter fibres from hardwood trees like oak, maple, and gum provide softer paper.
- Toilet paper is typically 70% hardwood and 30% softwood.
- Water, chemicals required to convert trees into useable fibre, and bleaches are other ingredients utilised in manufacturing.
- To whiten the paper, recycled paper manufacturers use oxygen, ozone, sodium hydroxide, or peroxide. However, producers of virgin paper frequently use chlorine-based bleaches (chlorine dioxide), which have been noted as hazardous to the environment.
Manufacturing Process for Toilet Paper
The toilet paper process starts after the raw materials have all been arranged. Let us discuss each step of the manufacturing process in detail.
- Debarking at the Mill: Trees are debarked when they arrive at the mill to preserve as much of the tree's interior wood as possible.
- Chipping Process: The debarked logs are chipped into homogeneous pieces of 1 inch by 1/4 inch in size. These tiny fragments facilitate the wood pulping process.
- Combining Wood Chips: Roughly 50 tonnes of wood chips are combined with 10,000 gallons of cooking chemicals. The resulting slurry is then delivered to a 60-foot (18.3 m) tall pressure cooker digester.
- Cooking and Fiber Extraction: Most of the moisture in the wood is drained during the cooking process, which can last up to three hours (wood chips contain roughly 50% moisture). About 25 tonnes of cellulose fibres, lignin (which holds wood fibres together), and other materials remain after the mixture is reduced. Each cooked batch yields around 15 tonnes of usable fibre or pulp.
- Washing and Removal of Lignin: Most lignin and cooking chemicals are removed from the pulp through a multistage washing process. The pulp is removed from this liquid, known as black liquor, and moved on to the following production stages.
- Bleaching the Pulp: The bleach factory receives the cleaned pulp, where a multistage chemical procedure eliminates fibre colour. The glue that holds fibres together, residual lignin, causes the paper to become yellow over time and needs to be bleached to get it white.
- Creating Paper Stock: To create a paper stock composed of 99.5% water and 0.5% fibre, the pulp is combined with water again. Most of the water drains between moving mesh screens, where paper stock is sprayed. With this process, up to 6,500 ft (1981 m) of matted fibre may be produced each minute at a width of 18 ft (5.5 m).
- Pressing and Drying: The paper is then pressed and dried in a massive heated cylinder called a Yankee Dryer. This is until it has a final moisture content of around 5%.
- Creping Process: The paper is then creped, which makes it incredibly soft and gives it a somewhat wrinkled appearance. Using a metal blade, the paper is scraped off the Yankee Dryer during creping. The sheets become considerably more flexible as a result, but their strength and thickness are decreased. When they become wet, they fall apart. After being manufactured at almost a mile per minute, the paper is coiled onto gigantic reels that weigh up to five tonnes.
- Conversion and Packaging: After being put into conversion equipment, the paper is unrolled, sliced, and rerolled onto a length of thin cardboard tubing. This creates a paper log. The paper logs are then rolled up and packaged after being cut into rolls.
Recycled Toilet Paper
Staples and pins are removed from both coloured and white stock before it is converted into toilet tissue manufactured from recycled paper. The paper is placed in a large vessel called a pulper, where it is mixed with hot water and detergents to create a liquid slurry. The recycled pulp is then put through a series of screens and rinses to remove paper coatings and inks. With oxygen-based cleaners like peroxide, the pulp is mildly whitened and sanitised. Then, like virgin paper products, it passes through steps 7 through 10, creating less white, less-expensive paper.
What Is Toilet Paper Used for?
- Personal Hygiene: Toilet paper is used primarily for cleaning up after using the washroom.
- Cleaning Spills or Messes: Toilet paper may quickly absorb liquid and clean up an area if you drop a drink or make a mess on a surface.
- Blow the Nose: Toilet paper may be used to blow your nose if you don't have tissues in hand.
Also Read: How to Start Tissue Paper Manufacturing Business in India?
Conclusion
The article was all about toilet paper and tissue paper manufacturing. The process includes complex steps from procuring raw materials to manufacturing sheets and rolls. Each step requires precision to ensure that the end product meets quality standards.Starting and running a toilet paper and tissue paper manufacturing business requires much more than manufacturing, including accounting, inventory management and managing finances. But why worry when you can manage everything through Khatabook?
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