Paper is made of  cellulose fibres obtained from vegetal elements.
A sheet of paper is formed of a large number of fibres linked to each other by means of chemical bonds known as hydrogen links. In order to build these bonds between the different cellulose fibres, the fibres providing the link with water are needed; the fibre then expands.

During the production process, the water is extracted from the fibre using gravity, suction, pressing, and drying. It is during this stage, when the fibre releases the water, that the hydrogen bonds, the cellulose and the water replace the bonds between the cellulose and the different fibres, and the resulting paper acquires its resistance. The higher the number of bonds, the more resistant is the paper.

This property allows the paper to be recycled. When a sheet of paper comes into contact with water, it frees the bonds between the fibres and generates new bonds between the cellulose and the water; the fibres break loose and the paper comes undone.

The operation of separating the fibres is called defibering and is achieved by putting the recovered paper in contact with water while energy is applied. In the later stages of the process, the heavy particles are separated using density, plastic, wood and aluminium particles are separated through sizing, ink particles are separated by floating, and the other contaminants in the mass are dispersed.

Recovered paper treatment processes are generally complicated. Each factory and product has and requires a specific process. As a result, there are factories that remove the ink and others that don’t; factories that disperse contaminants and other don’t; factories that bleach and other that don’t.

At Papelera LC Paper 1881, SA we have chosen to treat recovered paper using the contaminant dispersion method. We do not remove the ink nor do we bleach the pulp. This allows us to have a controlled low water consumption and at the same time avoid transfering bad smells to the paper, a condition that is very important to the food industry.