We need paper for many daily activities we are performing. As there is a majority of possible uses there also is a majority of raw material which has to be produced by different methods. The three most important are: pulp wood, pulp and recovered paper.

Pulp wood - is smoothly grinded and suspended wood. It first is debarked and then abraded against a grinding wheel. The mechanical wood pulp is produced by mechanical means only which is – in comparison to the production of pulp – much more cost-saving.

Advantage: During abrasion a high yield of the wooden starting material is achieved and at the same time waste water contamination is reduced.

Disadvantage: Mechanical wood pulp has relatively low strength and discolours fairly rapidly upon exposure to air and light.

Cellulose – this material is an important raw material for paper manufacture and is more or less wood from hard- or softwood. The share of lignin ("cementing substance" in wood) remaining after pulping is eliminated by chemical conversion to an extent that the remaining fibres may be defibrated without any further mechanical effort. The wood chips are cooked in an acid or alkaline solution. The result is a nearly pure cellulose but with a brownish colour, which may be improved by means of chlorine-free breach. Most often this results in a loss of consistency. After this the cellulose is put into the pulper (mixer), water is added and the water-fibre mix is grinded.

Disadvantage: The kind of grinding mainly defines the paper properties
and has influence on durability and quality.

Paper recycling – is the process of recovering separately collected waste paper and also cut-offs accumulated during paper manufacture. Thus, paper manufacture is considerably less harmful to the environment than the production of cellulose. Waste paper is dissolved in the pulper; fibres are separated, pre-sorted, cleaned and de-inked (cleaned from printing colours). After this the waste paper is put into the mill and then into the proportioning system. The higher the aspired paper quality, the better must be the quality of the waste paper used. The original quality of the primary paper is not reached anyway. Coated as well as strongly soiled waste paper is excluded from recycling on principle.

Advantage: Waste paper by far is the most important secondary raw material for
paper manufacture. Its share amounts to 44%. Unfortunately, acceptance towards
the use of paper made of waste paper most often is missing.