Papermaking
Now the clean pulp is ready to
be made into paper. The recycled fiber can be used
alone, or blended with new wood fiber (called virgin
fiber) to give it extra strength or smoothness.
The pulp is mixed with water and
chemicals to make it 99.5% water. This watery pulp
mixture enters the headbox, a giant metal box at
the beginning of the paper machine, and then is
sprayed in a continuous wide jet onto a huge flat
wire screen which is moving very quickly through
the paper machine.
On the screen, water starts to drain
from the pulp, and the recycled fibers quickly begin
to bond together to form a watery sheet. The sheet
moves rapidly through a series of felt-covered press
rollers which squeeze out more water.
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