A tissue is a paper-towel used in the toilet and other hygienic purposes such as handkerchief use. Many households throughout the world cannot live without tissue papers. It is estimated that an average American used about 100 roles of tissue paper per year. It is used beyond bathroom hygiene to include nose care, for removing make-up by women, for wiping up spills, and other minor bathroom chores. It is approximated that a single roll of tissue paper will last for five days in a family setting.
Raw Materials
Tissue papers are basically made from an unused or ‘virgin’ paper. They are made by means of combining of soft and hardwood trees. Thus, trees are the main raw material of manufacturing tissue papers. Softwood trees used include the Southern pines and the Douglas firs with extensive fibers that enfold on one another. The long fibers give tissue papers the strength they require. Hardwood trees used to manufacture tissue papers comprise of gum, oak, and maple; trees with short fibers which also manufacture softer papers. Tissue papers are normally composed of approximately 30% softwood and 70% hardwood (Wang 856). The other materials involved in the manufacture of tissue include water, bleaches, and chemicals which are used to breaks down the trees into fibers. Some companies manufacture tissues from recycled products. Materials required to recycle paper include ozone, oxygen, peroxides to whiten the paper, and sodium hydroxide. The virgin paper manufactures uses chlorine-based bleaches considered as a danger to the ecosystem (Wang 857).
Physical Properties
The first physical property of tissue paper is its weight. The weight of the paper is the weight per unit area. It may be expressed in grams per square or pounds per 1000sq. ft. The other physical property is bulk and density. The term bulk is used to indicate the volume and thickness in relation to the weight of the paper. Thirdly, there is the calipers and thickness of the paper. Thickness determines whether the paper is thick or dense. The final property of papers is the dimensional stability (Ampulski et al. 35).
Manufacture techniques
The first step in the manufacture of tissue paper is the arrival of trees at the mill and the removal of the outer layer. The woods are then disfigured into consistent magnitudes. The small sizes ensures the easiness if pulp. The wood chips are then assorted with cooking chemicals. The slurry that results is then elevated to a digester. Cooking of the slurry then takes place at the digester. The water in the logs is then evaporated. The slurry that was created is then condensed to few heaps of fibers while lignin and other materials. The resultant substance is called the pulp. The pulp is then pumped through a multistage washer system which ensures the removal of lignin and the cooking chemicals. A liquid which is referred as the liquor is then alienated with the tissue and then is channeled to the subsequent phase of manufacture. The pulp is channeled to a bleaching setting where color is removed from the fiber using the multistage chemical process (Klofta et al 35). The pulp is then added to water in order to produce paper hoard which is comprised of 0.5% and 99.5% water. The paper stash is tricked between the moving net screens. This serves the purpose of allowing much of the water to drain. The mat is then transferred to a Yankee Dryer which press and dry the sheet to the ultimate humidity amounts of 5%. The paper is then creped, which is the process that makes the paper even softer and provides it with a wrinkly appearance. The strength and thickness is also lowered in this step. Finally, the sheet is put into switching equipments which unwinds, split, and slide into the long and thin cardboard tubing (Klofta et al 35).
Market Consideration
The tissue paper production has come out as the new sub-segment within the paper industry in the United States. The tissue market is at the burgeoning stage in the world. Every household in the world requires the services of tissue papers. Therefore, the industry is booming with the many sells. Also, due to the increasing disposal income, many people are now resolving to using tissue papers. For instance, the Chinese Market for tissue paper is about 3.0 million tons per year. There is an increase in preferences towards hygiene products in the world; thus, the demand of tissue paper is expected to grow at a faster rate. The product also has a strong export potential (Steiner et al 45).
Works Cited
Wang, M., et al. "Manufacture and evaluation of bioactive and biodegradable materials and scaffolds for tissue engineering." Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine 12.10-12 (2001): 855-860.
Ampulski, Robert Stanley, Ward William Ostendorf, and Paul Dennis Trokhan. "Method of wet pressing tissue paper." U.S. Patent No. 6,103,062. 15 Aug. 2000.
Steiner, Karl, Albrecht Meinecke, and Rui Goncalves. "Paper machine for the production of tissue paper." U.S. Patent No. 5,393,384. 28 Feb. 1995.
Klofta, Thomas James, and Mark John Steinhardt. "Anhydrous skin lotions having antimicrobial components for application to tissue paper products which mitigate the potential for skin irritation." U.S. Patent No. 6,238,682. 29 May 2001.
