Glossary

Absorbency: The ability of fiber to absorb or take in liquids.
ADMT: A definition in two parts; first, AD=air dry which by industry convention means 90% fiber and 10% moisture; second, MT=metric ton which equals 1000 kilograms or 2204.6 lbs. A short ton equals 2000 lbs.
Adsorbable Organic Halogen (AOX): A measure of the amount of chloride that is chemically bound to the soluble organic matter in the effluent.
Basis Weight: In the metric system of units, basis weight is the weight in grams of a single sheet of area equal to one square meter. Basis weight is also called grammage in the metric system of units.
Beating or Refining: The mechanical treatment of the fibers in water to increase surface area, flexibility and promote bonding when dried.
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD): When effluent containing biodegradable organic matter is released into receiving water, the biodegradation of the organic matter consumes dissolved oxygen from the water. The BOD of an effluent is an estimate of the amount of oxygen that will be consumed in 5 days following its release into receiving water; assuming a temperature of 20°C.
Black Liquor: The liquor that exits the digester with the cooked chips at the end of the kraft cook.
Bleaching: A chemical process used to purify and hence whiten the pulp.
Blow Tank: The tank in which pulp is blown from digester.
Bone Dry: Moisture free or zero moisture.
Brightness: A measurement of the amount of blue light reflected from a pulp sheet or piece of paper, which is based on a 100-point scale. Brightness is a measure of the absence of yellow and an indicator of cleanliness and purity.
Bursting Strength: The resistance of a pulp sheet or piece of paper to rupture as measured by the hydrostatic pressure required to burst it when a uniformly distributed and increasing pressure is applied to one of its sides.
Caliper: The thickness of a pulp sheet or piece of paper, usually expressed in thousandths of an inch (mils).
Causticizing: The process in which Green Liquor is converted into White Liquor. Technically speaking it is the process of converting sodium carbonate into sodium hydroxide.
Cellulose: A high molecular weight, linear polymer of repeating beta-D-glucopyranose units. It is the chief structural element and major constituents of the cell wall of trees and plants.
Cellulose Fiber: An elongated, tapering, thick walled cellular unit, which is the main structural component of woody plants. Fibers in the plants are cemented together by lignin.
Chemical Pulp: Pulp obtained from the chemical cooking or digestion of wood or other plant material.
Clearcutting: Method of harvest in which most of the trees are removed at the same time, although some trees are left for wildlife and to shade streams. Clear cut harvesting is effective for regenerating Douglas-fir trees, which are shade intolerant and cannot thrive under a forested canopy.
Commercial thinning: Entry into a forest stand before final harvest to selectively remove trees that will produce a profit, while providing a silvicultural advantage to the remaining crop of trees. This technique is unlike a clear cut harvest, which removes nearly all trees in a single harvest operation.
Conifer: A cone-bearing tree with needles, such as pines, spruces, firs and larches.
Continuous Pulping: Production of pulp in continuous digester as compared to a batch digester.
Cooking: Reacting fibrous raw material with chemical under pressure and temperature to soften and or remove lignin to separate fibers.
Deciduous tree: A tree that loses its leaves or needles during the fall and winter.
Digester: The reaction vessel in which wood chips or other plant materials are cooked with chemical to separate fiber by dissolving lignin.
Dirt: Any imbedded foreign matter or specks (including shives) that have sufficient color or opaqueness to be visibly contrasting from the pulp sheet.
Dissolving Pulp: A high purity, specialty grade pulp made for processing into cellulose derivatives including rayon and acetate.
DNR: Department of Natural Resources. The state of Washington Agency, separate from the executive branch, responsible for implementing the Forest Practices Act (RCW 76.09) and accompanying rules, and for fiduciary management of state-owned lands.
DOE: Department of Ecology. The state of Washington agency, within the executive branch, responsible for regulating the State Environmental Protection Act. DOE is principally concerned with land uses affecting water quality and the issuance of consumption use permits of water.
Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF): A pulp bleaching process that uses chlorine dioxide rather than elemental chlorine gas as a bleaching agent. This virtually eliminates the generation of detectable dioxins found in the effluent of pulp manufacturing facilities or in the pulp products themselves.
Environment: Prevailing conditions that reflect the combined influence of climate, soil, topography and biology (other plants and animals) in an area.
Fiber Coarseness: Weight per unit length of fiber.
Fine Papers: Uncoated writing and printing grade paper including offset, bond, duplicating and photocopying.
Formation: The dispersion of fibers in a sheet of paper. The more uniform the formation, the better the sheet will print and look.
Forest: A plant community dominated by trees and other woody plants.
Forestry: The profession embracing the science, art and practice of creating, managing, using and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner for human benefit.
Forest Management: The practical application of biological, physical, quantitive, managerial, economic, social and policy principles to regeneration, management, utilization and conservation of forests to meet specified goals and objectives while maintaining the productivity of the forest. Forest management includes management for aesthetics, fish, recreation, urban value, water, wildlife and wood products.
Fourdrinier: Named after its inventor, the Fourdrinier papermaking machine is structured on a continuously moving wire belt onto which watery slurry of pulp is spread. As the wire moves, the water is drained off and pressed out, and the paper is then dried.
Freeness: A term used to define how quickly water is drained from the pulp. The opposite of freeness is slowness. Freeness or slowness is the function of beating or refining. Freeness and slowness reported in ml CSF and degree SR respectively are also the measurement of degree of refining or beating.
Grade: Pulps are differentiated from each other by their grade. Different grades are distinguished from each other on the basis of their content, appearance, manufacturing history, and/or their end use.
Head Box: The part of the pulp or paper machine whose primary function is to deliver a uniform dispersion of fibers in water at the proper speed through the slice opening to the paper machine wire.
Hemicellulose: A constituent of woods that is, like cellulose, a polysaccharide, but less complex and easily hydrated.
Kappa Number: Chemical test performed on pulp to determine the degree of delignification.
Kraft Pulp: Kraft pulp (also known as sulphate pulp) is obtained by cooking wood chips with the chemicals sodium sulfide and sodium hydroxide. The sodium sulfide is converted to sodium sulfate in the cooking process.
Lignin: A complex organic constituent of the wood that cements the cellulose fibers together.
Machine Direction: The direction the web sheet travels through the pulp or paper machine.
Market Pulp: Pulp which is made to be used elsewhere for the production of paper. Usually dried to reduce freight costs but may be "wet lap" (50% water).
Mechanical Pulp: Wood pulp manufactured wholly, or in part, by a mechanical process.
Nonwoven: Fabric-like material made from long fibers, bonded together by chemical, mechanical, heat or solvent treatment.
Opacity: The properties of paper which minimizes the "show-through" of printing from the backside or the next sheet.
Oxygen Delignification: A process in which oxygen gas and sodium hydroxide are used to remove lignin from brown stock.
Papermaking: Invented in China by T'sai Lun some 2,000 years ago, papermaking still follows the same basic procedures. Today wood chips are cooked with chemicals to release cellulose fibers and dissolve lignin, and then washed to remove impurities. Most printing papers are bleached to lighten the color of the pulp. Pulp is mechanically and chemically treated to impart certain desired characteristics such as strength, smoothness and sizing. Large quantity of water is added to uniformly distribution of fibers and additives. The resulting slurry, which is 99 to 99.5% water, is cascaded onto the continuously moving forming fabric of the Fourdrinier paper machine. Side-to-side shaking distributes the slurry, forming a tangled web of fiber as the water drains off. A wire mesh roll called a dandy roll, moves over the surface to modulate the turbulence and smooth the topside of the paper. A felt blanket absorbs more water from the paper and sends the sheet on through a channel of hot metal drums that dry and press the paper at the same time to give it a more even-sided finish. At this point the paper is fully dry and ready for off-machine processes such as coating, embossed finishes and supercalendering.
Ply: The separate webs, which make up the sheet formed on a multi-cylinder machine. Each cylinder adds one web or ply, which is pressed to the other, the plies adhering firmly upon drying.
Polymer: Organic chemical compounds consisting of repeating structural units. Cellulose is a polymer.
Polymerization: The compounding of organic chemical compounds consisting of repeating structural units.
Show-Through: The undesirable condition in which the printing on the reverse side of a sheet can be seen through the sheet under normal lighting conditions. The more opaque a sheet, the less the show-through.
Shives: Small bundles of fibers that have not been separated completely during pulping.
Sizing: The treatment of paper that gives it resistance to the penetration of liquids (particularly water) or vapors. Sizing improves ink holdout.
Slimes: Fungus or other bacteriological growth. If not controlled in the papermaking system, it can cause process and quality problems.
Slitter: Rotary knife used to slit or trim a pulp or paper web into specified width.
Sulphate Pulp: Sulphate pulp (also known as kraft pulp) is obtained by cooking wood chips with the chemicals sodium sulfide and sodium hydroxide. The sodium sulfate is converted to sodium sulfate in the process. It is the sodium sulfide that is actually the effective cooking agent, but the word sulfate is still used as the title.
Tear Strength: A measure of how likely a paper will continue to tear once started. Tear strength will differ with and against the grain.
Tensile Strength: A measure of how likely a paper is to break when pulled at opposite ends. This is very important when running through high-speed web presses.
Tissue: A low weight and thin sheet of paper; normally weighing less than 40 gram per meter square.
Totally Chlorine Free (TCF): A pulp bleaching process that includes no chlorine or chlorine derivatives. (Also see ECF).
White Liquor: White liquor is the aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide & sodium sulfide used as the cooking liquor in kraft pulping.
Wicking: The absorbent ability to pull moisture away through capillary action.
Wood Pulp: Dry fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating the fibers that make up wood.

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