Oggigiorno la qualità di una merce non dipende solamente dalle

Environmentally Sound Paper Manufacture
Daniele Ruggiero
INTRODUCTION
The quality of a product is no longer seen as depending solely on technological and
commercial characteristics but also on environmental impact, i.e. its effect on the natural
environment during its life cycle. In assessing a product, it is therefore also necessary to
take into consideration and evaluate new factors such as the possible damage caused to
the environment by its production cycle – stretching from the extraction of raw materials
to the actual production processes (which are intimately linked to the consumption of
water and energy and the possible pollution of air and water resources) – packaging,
transport and distribution. It is also necessary to take into account the product’s greater
or lesser ease of disposal at the end of its useful life and the possibility of its being
recycled more or less completely.
The life cycle of paper begins with the growth of a tree, which will then be felled,
transported to the processing facility, stripped of its bark, broken down into small pieces
and subjected to various mechanical, thermal and chemical processes in order to obtain
paper pulp.
This process involves both the use of a valuable raw material playing a key role in
the balance of the environmental ecosystem and the consumption of considerable
quantities of water and energy.
Paper pulp can, however, also be obtained by using recycled paper with a production
cycle that avoids the use of trees and thus helps to safeguard woodland.
The data supplied by www.worldevolution.org on the deforestation of our planet are
alarming: one hectare every second (the size of two American football fields), 86,000
hectares a day (an area greater than New York), 31 million hectares every year (an area
greater than Poland). As Lorenzo Pinna points out (Cinque ipotesi sulla fine del mondo,
Mondadori, 1995), “The importance of forests is obviously not due solely to the wood they
can supply. The functions of this ecosystem are legion, and some of them essential. For
example, forests protect and enrich soil, regulate the water cycle, influence the local
climate through evaporation, act as authentic storehouses of carbon dioxide during
growth, and constitute the natural environment for an enormous variety of plants and
animals. Deforestation helps to increase the amount of carbon dioxide – one of the major
gases responsible for the greenhouse effect – present in the air”.
Recycling also serves to reduce the quantity of paper that ends up in dumps and
incinerators. It is for this reason that many municipalities, including Rome, are currently
experimenting with differentiated waste collection.
ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND PAPER
The environmentally sound paper produced by the Favini company at Rossano
Veneto (Vicenza) comes under the category of recycled paper. This unquestionable
advantage is combined, however, with the use of fibres derived from somewhat unusual
sources – namely algae and maize – rather than those conventionally used in paper
manufacture (essentially trees and herbaceous plants such as cotton, hemp and flax),
which constitute the bulk of the fibrous pulp.
The composition of the pulp used for Alga paper is as follows:
30 % selected, recycled fibres (chemical wood pulp of conifer and broadleaf)
Chlorine-free virgin fibres (ECF) from controlled processes and plantations of whole
algae taken from the Venice Lagoon
The composition of the pulp used for Mais paper is as follows:
30 % selected, recycled fibres (chemical wood pulp of conifer and broadleaf)
Fibres from annual plants (reeds, bamboo, straw)
Chlorine-free virgin fibres (ECF) from controlled processes and plantations of residues
(stalks, cobs and husks) from the processing of corn for food production.
These types of paper are sized with potato starch and Aquapel, an alkyl ketene
dimer and neutral agent.
They are certified as biodegradable and perfectly recyclable.
They are available in various basis weights, thicknesses, and colours. These are
obtained in the case of Alga paper from the colours of the algae used, which vary
according to period and area of harvesting, and in the case of Mais paper from natural
agents.
They are pH neutral, acid-free and chlorine-free.
These types of paper aroused our interest with a view to possible use in the archival
sector, and were therefore tested to ascertain how far they met the requisites of
permanency set for archival paper.
THE ALGAE OF THE VENICE LAGOON
The abnormal production of algae in the lagoon (especially floating masses of
Enteromorpha, which create quite a few problems for internal navigation, and
proliferations of Ulva rigida and Ulva fasciata on the bed) must be regarded as the
outcome of a set of closely connected and mutually dependent environmental factors such
as temperature, salinity and the shallowness of the waters, which enables sunlight to
foster photosynthetic processes. Environmental studies have clearly identified
hydrodynamic and morphological alterations connected with projects carried out on the
Venice Lagoon since the beginning of the 20th century and natural phenomena like
erosion as playing a by no means minor role in disrupting the balance of the ecosystem.
These are obviously combined with the external factor of pollution due to the great
quantities of agricultural waste, industrial waste (especially from the area of Porto
Marghera), and urban waste (nitrates, phosphates, etc.) discharged into the lagoon, which
enrich the waters with nutrients and biostimulants such as vitamin B12 and create
eutrophic conditions.
The excess of algae, above all in the hottest periods, has harmful effects with
respect both to the lagoon environment, where precarious living conditions are created for
all the organisms present, and to the human population. Certain conditions can lead to
nearly complete anoxia and hence the death of all organisms. In such cases, the waters
become putrid as the algal biomass breaks down to produce hydrogen sulphide, a volatile
and foul-smelling gas. The waters then lose their characteristic colouring and enter a
range going from milky white through more or less intense shades of grey to brown.
While specific intervention to reduce the level of pollution and control the eutrophic
conditions of the lagoon immediately proved impracticable in the short term, the scientific
approach to the problem was not abandoned, and the Municipal Council of Venice set up a
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technical committee to examine this urgent environmental problem in 1987. The removal
of algae appeared, however, to offer a more realistic solution. This in fact became
obligatory due to the actual nature of the lagoon, where it proved impossible to determine
the ecosystem’s capacity for recovery or the length of time required, and a situation of
serious environmental crisis reappeared every year in the summer months.
Approximately 1,000 tonnes of algal biomass had been collected by the end of 1986,
and a total of about 8,600 tonnes the following year during the period from April to
September. Fishing cooperatives were employed in areas difficult to reach with the
equipment and contributed about 1,600 tonnes to the total.
EXPERIMENTAL SECTION*
Two types of paper were subjected to laboratory analysis, namely Alga naturale
avorio and Mais integrale bianca, both with a basis weight of 90 g/m2.
Chemical, physical, optical and technological measurements were taken, some of
which were then repeated after accelerated artificial ageing at a temperature of 80°C and
65% relative humidity (ISO 5630/3, 1986) for 24 days.
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
The tests provided confirmation of the manufacturer’s claims.
The values registered for pH and alkaline buffer proved high and remained so after
accelerated ageing.
The characteristics of mechanical strength are such as to guarantee a sufficient
degree of suitability for use and do not alter appreciably with ageing.
The optical characteristics also appear impervious to the effects of high temperature
and relative humidity.
The absence of lignin and the use of a neutral synthetic sizing agent contribute to
the stability of the paper examined.
CONCLUSIONS
In addition to the positive results summarized above, the two types of paper
examined comply with the UNI 10333 requisites for the permanence of archival paper.
It thus proves possible to state that the paper in question can be regarded as
suitable both for use in the field of long-term conservation and to produce archival
documents.
* L. Botti, O. Mantovani, D. Ruggiero, Un esempio di carte ecologiche, in “Kermes”, n. 37,
Nardini, Firenze, gennaio-marzo 2000, pp. 26-29
Acknowledgements
I should like to thank Lorena Botti and Orietta Mantovani, my colleagues from the
Chemical and Technological Laboratory, for their invaluable professional assistance in the
analysis of the Alga and Mais papers.
I also thank Giancarlo Impagliazzo for his great practical assistance in producing this
poster.
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