Fiber + Pulp: the specimens
January 18 - June 10, 2022
Fibrary
The Fiber Identification Library at the Institute of Paper Chemistry (IPC) began around 1950. Also known as the Fibrary, it was a comprehensive and well-organized collection of Fibers for use as comparison standards for microscopial examination. This resource was available to researchers and paper companies to examine Fibers of all kinds, and provided documentation on pulping processes and results. The development of the Fibrary at IPC reflects the growing scientific research and documentation of the paper industry in the 20th century. Increased knowledge of chemistry and biology of papermaking resulted in a product that was more consistent and easier to reproduce.
Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin
The Institute of Paper Chemistry
The Institute of Paper Chemistry was founded in 1929 as an Institute of higher learning to perform research to improve the papermaking process and to develop leaders for the American paper industry who were grounded in research and an interdisciplinary approach to the craft. In 1989 the school moved to Atlanta, and merged with Georgia Tech in 2003. Renamed the Renewable Bioproducts Institute in 2014, the Institute continues to perform research and develop the next generation of leaders in paper science research in industry and beyond.
Fibrarian
Irving H. Isenberg (1909-2002) was a professor at the Institute of Paper Chemistry in Appleton, Wisconsin from 1937 - 1973. Over the course of his years with the Institute, Isenberg taught courses in forestry, wood fiber chemistry, and microscopy. He was responsible for cultivating the tree plantation in the valley behind the Institute, as well as running the fiber identification laboratory. It was Isenberg who coined the term “Fibrary”.
He was the author of numerous publications, including two books, Pulp and Paper Microscopy and Pulpwoods of the United States and Canada which are still referenced today.
After his retirement from the Institute of Paper Chemistry in 1973, he held the title of Professor Emeritus until his death in 2001.
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"Fibrary"
“This word is a new one to the writer, but whether or not it has been recently coined to add yet another to the scientist’s already lengthy vocabulary, the idea associated with it is certainly a good one. A rst catalogue of fibre specimens, with data as to pulping, held in the Fibrary of the Institute of Paper Chemistry at Appleton, Wis., has been published. It appears that a collection of fibres was started about 18 months ago and that samples of fibres are obtainable from the Institute. Most mill chemists keep a small hoard of samples of different kinds of fibres for use as comparison standards for microscopical examination, but it seems that a comprehensive and well-organized collection such as that contemplated at Appleton is an idea which may well be copied in this country.”
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Microscopy: the method
Microscopes allow people to examine minute objects which are not visible to the naked eye. Microscopy is the name for this practice. Different kinds of microscopes allow researchers to view a sample in a variety of ways: they can focus on shape, cellular structure, or even how materials react to different light or the direction of light.
Researchers at the Renewable Bioproducts Institute use both kinds of microscopy in analyzing fibers and pulp. As advances in microscopy develop, new tools are added to researchers’ laboratories. When the Fibrary was developed, Microscopy was a required class for students at the Institute of Paper Chemistry. Being able to operate the tools was an important skill. Today’s students working in laboratories at Georgia Tech receive specialized training on how to use various kinds of microscopes.
Light Microscopes
This style of microscope allows light to pass through the specimen. There are different kinds of light used in light microscopes. Some use ultra-violet light or infrared light. Others used focused light from a light bulb. Simple light microscopes are used in schools, and more specialized ones are used for research purposes.
Electron Microscopes
Instead of using a beam of light to see the specimen, this tool uses a beam of electrons. This method permits greater specimen detail to be seen. Electron microscopes require air to be removed from samples for the scan to happen. Electron microscopes are used to look at very small specimens—so tiny that they may be only a few molecules wide.
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The Fibers: woods
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The timber resources used to make wood pulp are referred to as pulpwood. While in theory any tree can be used for pulp-making, softwood trees are preferred by papermills because the longer cellulose fibers make stronger paper.
Genetically modified tree species such as GM eucalyptus and GM poplar are gaining industry interest because they can provide the benefits of easier lignin breakdown and increased growth rate.
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Softwoods
Spruce | Pine | Fir | Larch | Hemlock
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Hardwoods
Eucalyptus | Aspen | Birch
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The Fibers: plants
Non-wood plant sources and recycled textiles represent a small but significant percentage of papermaking materials. Many of these papers are specialty papers.
Researchers studying sustainability are exploring using field-crop fiber, such as straw and other harvest waste as alternative means for papermaking beyond wood pulp.
Cotton:
Makes a very strong paper and is often used for special documents, artwork, and currency.
Sugarcane:
also called bagasse, can be used for writing paper, tissue, and oxes.
Kenaf:
a relative of cotton, this plant has been studied as an alternative to wood pulp.
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Exotic Specimens: the journey of experimentation
Papermaking spread around the world in part because paper can be made from a wide variety of plants. Plants have cellulose, and the cellulose fibers bond, or join, together in the papermaking process. No other materials have to be added to make paper. As the practice spread, and paper gained demand, new raw materials for production needed to be identified for specific environments around the world. Materials for papermaking were defined by location: readily available plants made a better source than having to import from far away. In Europe and North America, cotton and linen rags were the primary source of pulp for papermaking until the middle of the 1800s. The quality of rag paper is very high, but not enough rags were produced to meet papermakers’ demand. People began to look for alternative source material. In 1719, French naturalist Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur suggested the use of wood for papermaking after observing wasps’ nests. By 1771, Jacob Christian Schaeffer had published observations on different plants for papermaking, using papers made of his study plants. Mathias Koops acquired patents in 1800 for making paper out of straw, hay, thistles, hemp, flax, wood, and bark.
Schaeffer sample paper made from Typha (a.k.a. cattail) and illustration of the plant
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What's in a name?
scientific names vs common names
Throughout the exhibit are italicized words in a language you may not recognize. You can imagine a tree called the “white ash” but what about Fraxinus americana? They are the same tree, but the first is the common name and the second is the scientific name. Scientific naming, or binomial nomenclature, is a formal system of giving living organisms a two-part name. Latin is the language used for this. The first word is the species, and every organism in a species can exchange genes. The second word is the genus, a narrower group of species sharing more attributes. Scientific names are used because a plant may have several common names, but it will have only one scientific name.
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Taxonomy is the science of classifying and organizing living things. It was developed in the 1700s by Carl Linneaus, a Swedish zoologist, to organize all “plants, animals, and minerals.” Minerals were eventually dropped from the system, but plants and animals stayed. Taxonomists classify individual organisms into 8 categories: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.
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Why Not Wood?
experiments in pulp production
Most people think of trees as the main source of materials for paper. No practical method for making pulp from wood was found until 1840, though. The challenge of making paper from trees is due to lignin. Lignin, present in virtually all plant materials, is important for plants because it gives rigidity to plants. Paper with lots of lignin becomes brittle and discolored.
The invention of the groundwood process allowed for trees to be pulped—but the lignin remained. The development of the soda process and a sulfite process removed lignin from the cellulose, which is the material needed for making paper. The soda process boils wood chips in a caustic alkali solution. The sulphite process uses Sulphur to break the bond between the lignin and the cellulose. The strong “rotten egg” smell associated with paper mills is due to the Sulphur used to prepare wood for pulping. By the early 20th century, the merging of industrialization, understanding of chemistry, plentiful raw materials, and demand for a cheap and abundant product led to paper mills shifting to wood pulp production over all other materials for paper.
