Paper

Paper (from Latin papyrus, from Ancient Greek πάπυρος pápyros 'papyrus shrub') is a sheet material consisting essentially of fibres of vegetable origin, formed by dewatering a fibre suspension on a screen. The resulting fibrous web is compacted and dried.

Paper is made from fibrous materials, which today are mainly obtained from the raw material wood. The most important fibrous materials are pulp, mechanical pulp and waste paper pulp. Waste paper recycled through paper recycling is now the most important source of raw material in Europe. In addition to the pulp or a mixture of pulps, paper often contains fillers and other additives.

There are around 3000 types of paper, which can be divided into four main groups according to their intended use: graphic papers (printing and writing papers), packaging papers and board, hygiene papers (e.g. toilet paper, paper handkerchiefs) and the wide range of technical and special papers (e.g. filter papers, cigarette paper, banknote paper).

Delimitation

Paper, cardboard, paperboard

Paper, cardboard and paperboard are distinguished on the basis of their mass per unit area, among other things. DIN 6730 avoids the term cardboard and only differentiates between paper and cardboard on the basis of the limit value 225 g/m² (mass occupancy). Colloquially, however, cardboard is a common term for a material in the range 150 g/m² to 600 g/m², which is typically thicker and stiffer than paper. In the allocation to mass per unit area, there are overlap ranges between paper and board and between board and cardboard:

In some cases, in the case of the colloquial three-way division into paper, cardboard and paperboard, other limit values are given for the overlap ranges, for example:

The minimum grammage of paperboard is stated differently depending on the source, for example as 220 g/m² or 600 g/m². The fluid weight limits are also based on innovations in production technology. The basis weight should therefore be regarded today as an approximate guide and as one of several distinguishing criteria.

Pseudo papers

Pseudo-papers (paper-like) such as papyrus, tapa, amatl and huun - all of plant origin - differ from paper mainly in the technique of production: plant fibres are joined together by tapping and formed into a sheet. In the production of real paper, the fibers are soaked in water and separated from each other. Then the fibers must be placed as a thin layer on a screen, dewatered and dried. The intertwined, matted fibres form the paper.

Paper Market

Worldwide, 406 million tons (as of 2014) of paper, cardboard and paperboard are produced annually. The largest producers (as of 2014) are China (108 million tonnes), the USA (73 million tonnes), Japan (26 million tonnes) and Germany (22.5 million tonnes).

The European paper industry accounts for one third of the world's paper production capacity. Europe is the leader in the production of printing and writing paper, followed by Asia and North America, and accounts for almost 26% of total paper and board production. Consolidation of the European paper industry over the last decade has reduced the number of companies, paper mills and paper machines in Europe, but at the same time significantly increased production capacity. It is estimated that the 20 largest paper producers currently account for almost 40% of global paper and board production. The turnover of the European paper industry was around 79 billion euros in 2015. 180,000 people work in the European pulp and paper industry. In addition to large paper manufacturers such as UPM-Kymmene, Stora Enso, International Paper, Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA), Metsä Board, Sappi or the Smurfit Kappa Group, there are a large number of medium-sized and smaller paper manufacturers such as Papierfabrik Palm or Kartonfabrik WEIG.

The German paper industry, whose interests are represented by the Verband Deutscher Papierfabriken (VDP), is number one in Europe with a production volume of 22.6 million tonnes (2015) of paper, board and cardboard and ranks fourth worldwide behind China, the USA and Japan. The German pulp and paper industry's approximately 40,600 employees generate sales of 14.4 billion euros (2015) in 162 mills, an increase of 0.9% over the previous year.