tissue production

The tissue production process up is based on the manufacturing of raw material such as virgin pulp and waste paper. Supply chain involves many firms of the pulp industry. All the pulp come from certificated forests.  
 
The tissue production process starts in the paper mill where the pulp paste, is treated with hot water refined and manufactured in order to obtain parent reels. The process proceed in the converting plants were the parents reel are processed to obtain products ready to go on the shelves. 
 
The tissue production industry has been historically demanding an intensive use of water and energy. For this reason there are many national and European laws trying to regulate this sector. 
 
How is tissue paper made? 
Soft tissue paper comes in varying thicknesses and textures but is primarily manufactured for facial tissue, toilet tissue, paper towels, serviettes and sometimes packing tissue. 
 
Pulping and Retting 
Wood Pulp 
Pressing 
Converting jumbo rolls to toilet rolls 
 
How are paper towels made? 
The tissue paper for towel is made in a similar manner to the tissue paper produced for toilet tissue. The towel tissue is thicker and heavier with conditioners added to give strength when the paper is wet. 
 
Paper towels are available 2 ply, 3 ply and 4 ply varieties. The plies are embossed with a synchronised pattern and bonded together using lamination adhesive to add strength. 
 
The toilet / tissue production process starts by creating a paper. There are 2 kinds of tissue production processes for toilet / tissue paper; 
 
Made with virgin paper products (formed from chipped wood) 
Made from recycled paper. 
  
 
tissue paper converting process 
 
Making toilet / tissue paper from the trees 
Not all types of trees are used to manufacture toilet / tissue paper. Generally, it is made from “virgin” paper, which is a combination of softwood (approx. 30%) and hardwood trees (approx. 70%). In the final product, to achieve durability in the toilet / tissue paper, water, chemicals and bleaches are added. 
 
To prepare it, softwood and hardwood trees are stripped of their bark with machines, leaving as much wood as possible. 
The bare logs are then passed through machines to cut it into smaller pieces and then carefully separated into batches. 
The wood chip batches are then cooked in a mixture of chemicals for a few hours. 
The wood moisture is then evaporated and the mass is reduced to cellulose fibres, lignin (adhesive that binds fibres together) and other substances. The result is usable fibre, called pulp. The pulp is what paper is made from. 
The lignin and the cooking chemicals are then washed out of the pulp. 
The washed pulp is then bleached until all the colour is removed. The lignin must be removed from the pulp or the paper will become yellow over time. 
The pulp is mixed with a lot of water to produce paper stock, which is sprayed onto screens of mesh to drain the water. 
The paper is then pressed, dried, scraped off with metal blades, wound around jumbo reels and then moved to machines that cut it into long strips and perforate it into squares. 
Finally, the paper logs are cut into rolls and wrapped toilet / tissue paper packages. Voila! 
[Source: How toilet paper is made] 
 
Making toilet / tissue paper from recycled materials 
Waste paper is collected, sorted and brought to the paper plant mill, where it is mixed with water and chemicals, then pulped, filtered, refined and turned into pulp. 
The treated pulp comes out of the paper mill on a jumbo roll, which is then transported to a converting tissue plant where it will be converted into the final product (i.e. toilet rolls / tissue paper). 
The toilet / tissue paper is then embossed, perforated and transferred onto long toilet logs as per the correct sheet count. 
The long toilet / tissue paper logs are then fed to the band saw which automatically cuts the toilet / tissue paper logs to the correct size, ready to be packed. 
It is then fed into the various wrapping machines and shipped to the various retailers.