Papermaking: Lab 2

Visit to Smurfit-Stone Pulp and Paper Mill in Stevenson, AL

 

Monday, January 29, 2007

 

Everyone must come to lab on Monday this week!

 

Please gather in front of Snowden, on Alabama Ave. by the construction fence, by 12:15 p.m. We will leave promptly at 12:30, and it takes a few minutes to load the vans and get on our way. We will return by about 5:00 p.m.

 

We will take the scenic route to the paper mill–out the Sherwood Road, down the mountain to Sherwood, TN, through Anderson, AL, through Stevenson, and on to the mill.

 

For the prelab and for the class in general, please download the PowerPoint presentation Dempsey.ppt (via Blackboard and External Links and Files to Download).

 

In preparation for the trip I would like you to look at two pages on the Bowater (paper company) web pages. The site URL is: http://www.bowater.com/en/. Just clicking on various of the tabs is interesting because of the excellent photographs of the paper machine and various stages of the papermaking process.

 

1. You can click on Education and go to: http://www.bowater.com/en/education.shtml and then Papermaking 101: http://www.bowater.com/en/papermaking101.shtml, and then (or go directly) to The Paper Machine:

 http://www.bowater.com/uploads/paper_making_101_-_the_paper_machine.pdf. (May load slowly)

 

2. From the education page you can go to Children's pages: http://www.bowater.com/en/childrens.shtml and then ((or go directly) to the animation of the whole trees-to-paper process: http://www.bowater.com/flash/makingpaper.swf

 

The lab report for this lab is a 2-3 page write-up about the trip. Listen, observe, and take some notes.

 

Our host is Doug Wynn, Assistant Superintendent of Power and Recovery. He is a pleasant, young, enthusiastic engineer. He looks forward to the class visiting each year! He will give an introductory talk that will stress safety, tell you about the corrugated medium that they make, and present an overview of the whole mill.

 

Your paper should cover three points/areas:

 

            1. A paragraph about the Smurfit-Stone Mill operation: a few facts that interest you.

            2. Several paragraphs covering your observations of effects of the mill on your various senses: sight, sound, smell, taste (no, you wonÕt literally taste anything, but you will find that your sensation of taste has been invoked!). Touch is another sense, but it is probably best not to be touching any of the equipment!

            3. A couple paragraphs comparing the pulp-to-paper processes:

a. the one that you used in preparing pulp and making paper in the first lab

b. the commercial process you observed today.

 

This paper should be prepared with a word processing system and checked for spelling. You should proofread your paper and check for grammar.

 

The paper is due at the start of class on Thursday, February 1.