Abstract
Professor Rånby opened the meeting with a concentrated review of the synthetic paper field. It was a reasonably well referenced review with a very useful classification scheme. Perhaps it is still premature to select synthetic pulp as the most promising approach to synthetic paper, but it is the chairman’s privilege to speculate in this way. The pollution problem, mentioned by the speaker, is mainly due to the pulp mills and is a problem chiefly in the Scandinavian countries. In other countries, paper and pulp mill pollution is less serious compared with sewage effluent. Also, the shortage in petroleum may well be ‘across the board’ and any cuts made could also affect the polymer industry. All in all, the review was a very valuable contribution and should stimulate considerable interest in the field. The subject of synthetic paper is wide open for fundamental research; from such research, much can also be learned about conventional paper and papermaking.
Download PDF