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People often think of paper as an environmentally harmful product because trees are cut down to make it. A new generation that has grown up in today's digital society may think that the use of digital devices is a waste-free way to protect our environment. Although the pulp and paper industry is making various efforts to preserve the environment, it has not been properly recognized. Developing new technologies to produce better products at lower cost while protecting our environment is important. But it is also important to enhance the image of the pulp and paper industry in the eyes of the public. The pulp and paper industry's efforts to reforestation for raw materials and to expand the recycling of waste paper should be more widely introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper properties determine the product application potential and depend on the raw material, pulping conditions, and pulp refining. The aim of this study was to construct mathematical models that predict quantitative relations between the paper density and various mechanical and optical properties of the paper. A dataset of properties of paper handsheets produced with pulps of Acacia dealbata, Acacia melanoxylon, and Eucalyptus globulus beaten at 500, 2500, and 4500 revolutions was used. Unsupervised classification techniques were combined to assess the need to perform separated prediction models for each species, and multivariable regression techniques were used to establish such prediction models. It was possible to develop models with a high goodness of fit using paper density as the independent variable (or predictor) for all variables except tear index and zero-span tensile strength, both dry and wet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study shows that barley straw (Hordeum vulgare) can be a supplementary raw material of softwoods and hardwoods such as Pinus sylvestris and Eucalyptus camaldulensis, respectively, for the production of cellulose and paper, reducing an agricultural residue that has no added value. Barley straw has a lower content of cellulose at 36.4% than P. sylvestris and E. camaldulensis, but it contains a lower quantity of lignin, 15.9%. After pulping with soda anthraquinone (AQ), high contents of cellulose (56.5 to 67.5%) and holocellulose (>80%) were attained. Paper sheet properties were able to reach, and even improve upon, those of wood species (Pinus and Eucalyptus) pulped with kraft. Better values of total yield (56.5%), Kappa number (8.9), and ISO brightness (36.4%), were attained for paper sheets from barley straw pulp versus E. camaldulensis and P. sylvestris, respectively, and comparable values for viscosity, tensile, and burst index were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]