Pulp (paper) in the context of "Pulp and paper industry"

Paper is a thin sheet of matted cellulose fibers. Largely derived from lignocellulose, paper is created from a pulp dissolved into a slurry that is drained and dried into sheets. Different types of paper are defined by constituent fiber, paper pulp, sizing, coating, paper size, paper density and grammage.

The papermaking process developed in East Asia at least as early as 105 CE by the Han court eunuch Cai Lun, although archaeological evidence exists of 2nd century BCE paper-like material in China. Before the industrialization of paper production, the most common paper was rag paper, made from discarded natural fiber textiles collected by ragpickers. The 1843 invention of wood pulp, coupled with the Second Industrial Revolution, made pulpwood paper the dominant variety to this day.

Cai Lun (Chinese: 蔡伦; courtesy name: Jingzhong (敬仲); c. 50–62 – 121 CE), formerly romanized as Ts'ai Lun, was a Chinese eunuch court official of the Eastern Han dynasty. He occupies a pivotal place in the history of paper due to his addition of pulp via tree bark and hemp ends which resulted in the large-scale manufacture and worldwide spread of paper. Although traditionally regarded as the inventor of paper, earlier forms of paper have existed since the 3rd century BCE, so Cai's contributions are limited to innovation, rather than invention.

Born in Guiyang Commandery [zh] (in what is now Leiyang), Cai arrived at the imperial court in Luoyang by 75 CE, where he served as a chamberlain for Emperor Ming, and then as Xiao Huangmen, an imperial messenger for Emperor Zhang. To assist Lady Dou in securing her adopted son as designated heir, he interrogated Consort Song and her sister, who then killed themselves. When Emperor He ascended the throne in 88 CE, Dou awarded Cai with two positions: Zhongchang shi  [zh], a political counselor to the emperor that was the highest position for eunuchs of the time, and also as Shangfang Ling, where Cai oversaw the production of instruments and weapons at the Palace Workshop.

The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood, specifically pulpwood, as raw material and produce pulp, paper, paperboard, and other cellulose-based products.

Rag paper is a category of paper that is made from a pulp of discarded textiles, rope and other fibre products. Rag paper in its various forms was a widely-used paper for most of the past two millennia. Production spread along the Silk Road from its early 2nd-century origin in China to the Islamic world by the 8th century. It was introduced into Christian Europe by the 12th century, and western Europe came to dominate rag production up until the mid-19th century, when rag paper was displaced in favour of far more cost-efficient pulpwood acidic paper.

Rag paper is valued today as a specialty paper for its archival quality and tear resistance compared to wood pulp paper. Modern rag paper is often cotton paper, made from cotton linters, with a usual pH of 6.4 and degree of polymerization of 1481.2.

A combustible material is a material that can burn (i.e., sustain a flame) in air under certain conditions. A material is flammable if it ignites easily at ambient temperatures. In other words, a combustible material ignites with some effort and a flammable material catches fire immediately on exposure to flame.

The degree of flammability in air depends largely upon the volatility of the material – this is related to its composition-specific vapour pressure, which is temperature dependent. The quantity of vapour produced can be enhanced by increasing the surface area of the material forming a mist or dust. Take wood as an example. Finely divided wood dust can undergo explosive flames and produce a blast wave. A piece of paper (made from pulp) catches on fire quite easily. A heavy oak desk is much harder to ignite, even though the wood fibre is the same in all three materials.

A producer price index (PPI) is a price index that measures the average changes in prices received by domestic producers for their output. Formerly known as the wholesale price index between 1902 and 1978, the index is made up of over 16,000 establishments providing approximately 64,000 price quotations that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) compiles each month to represent thousands of different goods and services.

Its importance is being reduced by the steady decline in manufactured goods as a share of spending. When manufacturers face increased production costs (input costs), businesses must reconsider their pricing approach by either:

A combustible material is a material that can burn (i.e., sustain a flame) in air under certain conditions. A material is flammable if it ignites easily at ambient temperatures. In other words, a combustible material ignites with some effort and a flammable material catches fire immediately on exposure to flame.

The degree of flammability in air depends largely upon the volatility of the material – this is related to its composition-specific vapor pressure, which is temperature dependent. The quantity of vapor produced can be enhanced by increasing the surface area of the material forming a mist or dust. Take wood as an example. Finely divided wood dust can undergo explosive flames and produce a blast wave. A piece of paper (made from pulp) catches on fire quite easily. A heavy oak desk is much harder to ignite, even though the wood fibre is the same in all three materials.

Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazines printed on higher-quality paper were called "glossies" or "slicks". The typical pulp magazine was 128 pages, 7 inches (18 cm) wide by 10 inches (25 cm) high, and 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) thick, with ragged, untrimmed edges. Pulps were the successors to the penny dreadfuls, dime novels, and short-fiction magazines of the 19th century.

Although many respected writers wrote for pulps, the magazines were best known for their lurid, exploitative, and sensational subject matter, even though this was but a small part of what existed in the pulps. Digest magazines and men's adventure magazines were incorrectly regarded as pulps, though they have different editorial and production standards and are instead replacements. Modern superhero comic books are sometimes considered descendants of "hero pulps"; pulp magazines often featured illustrated novel-length stories of heroic characters, such as Flash Gordon, The Shadow, Doc Savage, and The Phantom Detective.