Literature--APA Nov 1990

Paprican's Annual Report for 1989 describes the research they have been doing: 1) Elimination of dioxins by avoidance of wood chips contaminated with wood preservatives, reformulation of pulping defoamers to eliminate any dioxin precursors present, substitution of chlorine dioxide for chlorine in the bleaching process, and improvements in control of pulp bleaching and washing processes; 2) avoiding strength loss in chips blown from the digester by using a large-diameter transfer line, and other measures; 3) developing brightening processes for mechanical pulps, while providing brightness stability; 4) developing a way to measure the delamination strength of paper, which involves a technique for dividing a sheet into 15-18 layers; 5) a new investigation of the effect of recycling on sheet strength and printing quality; and 6) measurement of brightness. On the matter of brightness measurement, they say this "continues to be a matter of debate and disagreement among scientists in the world community. This presents difficulties, since brightness is often a criterion by which paper quality is judged. Recently it has become clear that the use of fluorescent brighteners in paper has clouded the issue. Any useful brightness measurement must be made using an illumination source that contains the amount of ultraviolet light that would normally be experienced in usage." For details on these and other research efforts, write the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada, 570 St. John's Blvd., Pointe Claire, Que. H9R 3J9, Canada. Ask for the Annual Report and the list of staff publications.

Research Needs in the Pulp and Paper and Related Industries is a report of an industry workshop sponsored by the NSF, held July 1988 at the University of Maine. It was published this year by TAPPI Press. Out of hundreds of research needs listed--147 in pulping and bleaching alone--only about five related to paper quality from the user's point of view, and this counts two or three improvements in pulping methods.

"How Due Process in the Development of Voluntary Standards can Reduce the Risk of Anti-Trust Liability," by David A. Swankin. Prepared for NIST, Office of Standards Services, Feb. 1990 (NIST-GCR-90-571). $17 from NTIS (National Technical Information Service), Springfield, VA 22161, 703/ 487-4650. Recent Supreme Court decisions have found that either a company or a standards-setting organization (ASME) can incur antitrust liability for anticompetitive actions taken during the standards-setting process. This 50-page booklet reassures readers that fair procedures are the best defense against antitrust suits, and it reviews the procedures of 11 organizations (including ANSI, ASTM and NIST but not TAPPI) as they relate to the following fairness issues: notice, openness, balance, consideration of views &id objections, access, an unbiased appellate body, the right to appear, timely action and complete records, record keeping and rationale statements, and general provisions to assure against standards that unreasonably restrain trade. Only good examples are presented, but it is not too hard to think of bad examples organizations drawing up permanence standards for paper (none of which are listed in the booklet or this notice).

Among the practices favorably noted are 1) no undue financial barriers to participation in the standards-setting process, 2) the use of performance criteria where possible, as opposed to criteria based on materials and dimensions (Builders Hardware Mfrs Association), 3) establishment of more than one level of performance, and 4) discouragement of staff from interpreting the standards once they have been published.

The Paper Conservator, vol. 14, 1990, contains six papers, all good, including:

A pH Survey of an Acidic Textblock, by Nick Hindhaugh
Paper Washing, by Anne Lienardy & Philippe van Damme
A New Chronology of Papermaking Technology, by Thomas
Collings and Derek Milner.

For information on availability, write The Secretary, Institute of Paper Conservation, Leigh Lodge, Leigh, Worcestershire, WR6 5LB, England.

The edited proceedings of the October 1988 TAPPI Paper Preservation Symposium have appeared, and are available for a reasonable price: $58 for TAPPI members, $88 others. The editor is Phil Luner. The 35 papers are grouped into the following categories:

Congressional voices (3 papers)
Preservation concerns (10 papers)
Testing and monitoring of paper aging (6 papers) Alkaline papers (5 papers)
Book preservation technologies (11 papers)

Order from TAPPI Press, PO Box 105113, Atlanta, CA 303485113 (1-800-332-8686). The title is Paper Preservation: Current Issues & Recent Developments, and the order # is 01 01 R175. ISBN 0-89852-500-4. Add $6 for P&H.

Das Papier, v. 43 #11 (1989) includes three papers an the topic of permanence, listed below with extracts from their English Summaries and comments by the APA editor.

"Das Papier im Archiv," by Guido Dessauer (p. 607-615). "The multiple reasons for the aging of paper are considered... Requirements for a permanently durable paper lead to a proposal of a furnish and pulping conditions which closely correspond to the ANSI (USA) standard:' [Comment: He writes like a passionate activist, but is sometimes short on facts.]

"Untersuchung des Alterungsverhaltens von Schreib-, Druckund Kopierpapiereren" ("Investigation of the Aging Characteristics of Writing, Printing and Copying Papers"), by Urs Ernst (p. 616-625). "...The natural aging process was simulated by artificial aging at 80°C 65% RH.... Recycled papers do not in all cases age more rapidly than papers from new stock. However, most strength criteria showed distinctly lower initial values for recycled or wood containing [groundwood] papers than for papers based an [pure] cellulose. A critical limit is reached considerably earlier even with equal aging properties. For these reasons, the use of recycled or wood-containing papers for , potential archival documents cannot be recycled...... [Comment: He describes the Swiss standard for permanent paper, which includes specifications for both accelerated aging and components. Like the ANSI standard, it asks for a pH of 7.5-9.5, no groundwood, 27 calcium carbonate, and strength as measured by fold and tear.]

"Alterungsbeständiges Papier" ("Permanent Paper"), a panel discussion from a 1989 meeting of librarians, moderated by Elmar Mittler and edited by Helmut Bansa (p. 626-632). There is m English s , but the discussion included 12 contributions, mainly from leading librarians, on the question of how to get longer-lived paper used for library books. Representatives from the paper and publishing industry, and paper conservators and chemists, were there. The panel covers about the sea ground as the papers at the 1988 TAPPI Paper Permanence Symposium.

"Survey on National Standards on Paper and Ink to be used by the Administration for Records Creation: A RAMP Study with Guidelines." Unesco General Information Programme and UNISIST, Paris, 1987. (PGI-86/WS/22) Prepared by D. L. Thomas. Free from Division of the General Information Programme; Documentation Centre; UNESCO; 7, Place de Fontenoy; 75700 Paris; France. Reports the result of a world survey of national archives. Each country's paper permanence standards are described in fair detail. Regarding inks, it says technology of production has run ahead of standards, and the best way to cope is to have a standard reference ink, like Sweden does, and specify that any ink used has to be at least as resistant to the effects of daylight, air, water and alcohol as the reference ink is.

The In-Plant Printer & Electronic Publisher for August 1990 has three articles relating to alkaline and recycled paper: "The Trend to Alkaline Paper and Press Performance," by H. C. Roth (P. 32, 38); "Q & A: Alkaline Paper," by David Ruff (p. 34) and "Recycled Paper Usage," by Carol Butler (P. 36, 38). Herb Roth estimates that about 75% of U.S. mills will be alkaline by the end of 1990, which is about 20%. off; he also says certain inks are incompatible with alkaline paper, which may or may not be true, but which should be checked out by some research facility like GATF. David Ruff's article disagrees with Roth's on certain points (e.g., whether alkaline paper produces more or less chalking) and he attributes complaints of poor performance by alkaline papers to 1) alkaline papers produced years ago, 2) present-day products manufactured by a different technology, such as foreign alkaline papers, or 3) start-up difficulties.

Perhaps the best-written, most complete and accurate book about paper for the non-papermaker is still in print, but there are only a couple of hundred copies left, so five years from now it may be out of print. Paper--Art & Technology, Based on presentations given at the International Paper Conference held in San Francisco, March 1978. Paulette Long, Editor. World Print Council, San Francisco, 1979. $13 + $2 postage & handling from: Attn: Paulette Long, World Print Council, 1275 Greenwich St. #504, San Francisco, CA, 94109 (415/931-3182).

The September Pulp & Paper contains 23 articles on recycling --collection, recycling hysteria," grocery bags from newspapers, environmental concerns, all aspects ' (Published from 500 Howard St., San Francisco, (A 94105, 415/397-1881.) There is a Greenpeace statement against dioxin and chlorine bleaching on the last page. Next they are going to go after organochlorines.

"The History of Garbage," by William L. Rathje. Garbage, v.2 #5, Sept./Oct. 1990, p. 32-39. The author, an archaeologist and "garbologist" in the anthropology department at the University of Arizona, excavates dumps in order to gain useful information available from m other source. He and his students, over the last 15 years, have sorted and recorded modern household refuse in six U.S. cities, and can tell you that most estimates of garbage produced by the average household are inflated, and that nobody knows whether the amount is growing or shrinking over time. He thinks it is about 1 1/2 pounds person per day, and has been for decades. There is more litter today, but less coal ash and fewer dead horses. (Other articles by the author on this subject have been published in the Journal of Resource Management and Technology, American Behavioral Scientist, and The Atlantic. This issue of Garbage may be available from the publisher: Garbage, PO Box 56519, Boulder, OD 803226519. Subscriptions are $21 per year for six issues.)

On p. 42-47 is an article, "Landfills are No. l," which argues that landfills can do the job if they are managed right.

1990 Symposium on Waste Paper in Newsprint and Printing and Writing Grades. Canadian Pulp & Paper Association. 147 pp. ISBN 0-919893-92-9. The first paper, by David Barron of CPPA, is a reply to Greenpeace's warcry against using trees to make paper. He says most Canadian forests are mature or overmature; that trees, like people, die whether or not you recycle paper; most fiber for the Canadian paper industry comes from sawdust; cutting forests does not increase global warming; and the number of seedlings planted per decade has been increasing dramatically. There are 17 other papers, plus a list of attendees. Topics covered include collection, government procurement, environmental issues, deinking, pressroorn experience, markets and transportation.

Volume 3, Number 5 Nov 1990

Literature

Volume 3, Number 5
Nov 1990