By applying the highly functional retention agent “REALIZER R, FX series” and the multi-functional coagulant “REALIZER A series”, which introduced our new technology “Reactive Polymer Technology”, various internal additions of the paper machine. It has been found that the fixability of paper chemicals can be improved, the amount of paper chemicals used can be reduced, and paper defects can be reduced. We have been promoting the application of “Reactive Polymer Technology” to the paper field, but in recent years, we have been promoting the technology cultivated in the paper field to the paperboard field. This paper gives examples of paper and paperboard machines and introduces their effects and features.

As a design technique for improving the fixability of various internally added paper chemicals that are being tackled in parallel, there is the introduction of special monomers to retention agents and coagulant polymers. With the introduction of special monomers and reactive polymers, the functionalization of retention agents and coagulants is accelerated, and it is approaching the point where it can be established as a fixing agent for internal additives.

In order to optimize the wet end and reduce paper defects, not only the review of various internal additives and the optimization of the addition amount, but also the number of bacteria in the system is a very important factor. So far, we have conducted many DNA analysis of paper defects, and it is known that many paper defects are related to microbiological factors. This paper also introduces examples of paper defect reduction by applying our latest slime control agent “CURECIDE System”.

Pulp quality demands have been steadily increasing year by year with the increasing demands of pulp end users, particularly producing household paper such as tissue, diapers, etc. Traditionally pulp dirt count control has been done by manual off-line visual method. Pulp dirt count measurement system “PULP-Inspector” by Papertech is introduced in the article. The system is using high speed and high resolution digital camera and can detect the smallest 0.04 mm² various contaminations such as shieves, metal, oil and insects, etc. The system has been already ensuring pulp quality in many overseas mills.

Papertech inc. is based in Canada. They are increasing the sales of their products, Web inspection system and Web monitoring system for household paper using special camera and have the advantages of good opera bility and optimized software.

The purpose of research on paper physics is to model paper theoretically and experimentally so that the quality of the end product can be predicted by simulation. In this report, we introduce paper mechanical models required for numerical simulation of packaging products and specific application examples.

Since paper has properties such as an elastic body, an elastic–plastic body, and a viscoelastic body, a mechanical model may be appropriately selected and handled approximately according to the target case. In nonlinear finite element analysis, the actual phenomenon can be reproduced more than elastic analysis by considering three nonlinearities, material nonlinearity, geometrical nonlinearity, and boundary nonlinearity.

The following four are shown as analysis cases. First, by considering the difference in hygroexpansion coefficients between top and bottom sides of the sheet, it is possible to simulate curling and warping of the laminated paper and the corrugated fiberboard. Next, in consideration of elastic–plasticity, the wrinkles in the paper web were reproduced on the roller and developed into folding wrinkles. In the compression tests of corrugated board boxes, good agreement was found between experiment and analysis, both in the box compressive strength due to the effect of hand holes and in the buckling mode. Finally, dynamic analysis shows that the box falls free and collides with the floor surface and bounces back.

Iwanuma Mill is a main newspaper production site in Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. Majority of the raw material is DIP but increase of wastepaper which includes UV print often causes quality issues in recent years. The problems are that UV ink fragment remains in pulp because conventional De–inking agent canʼt make fi ner its tough surface.

On the other hand, facility development to strengthen removal/dispersion ability and recyclable UV ink development are proceeded, we donʼt still come to prevent deterioration of the sudden DIP quality with considering ROI balance.

Our new approach for UV print recycles is installing catalyzer type De–inking agent（NICCA CHEMICAL., Ltd）. This chemical works as catalysis and breaks down ester bond in an oligomer ingredient of UV ink. With this reaction, UV ink which is diffi cult to deal by conventional De–inking agent can be made fi ner. This catalyzer type agent also has an outstanding performance by ester decomposing reaction against conventional oxidative polymerization type ink.

In comparison with conventional De–inking agent, this catalyzer type De–inking agent has an excellence in detachability and fi ning ability, and it brings us great benefi t by settling several problems – brightness drop in summer season, quality issues caused by UV ink and so on.

Due to the structural change of paper and board market, production mill site is under pressure of production man power reduction and efficiency improvement. In such a market environment, Voith IHI is focusing on the Maintenance business（P roducts & Services business） and enforcing the products and services to improve the energy saving, productivity, stability of production. In this paper below three topics which described focused Service business were briefly introduced.

1）Service portfolio of Voith IHI Paper Technology

2）Benefit and results of “Process Audit”

3）Reference of improvement in “Process Audit” for off machine coater line“Process Audit” is the structured service product which have Maintenance point of view to figure out the required maintenance and Production point of view to improve the efficiency and stability of production. This tool supports customer to easily decide their direction for the Production, Rebuild, Maintenance. This paper introduces “Process Audit” with some of actual improvement in recent reference audit for Off Machine Coater.

In the current pest management, we collect data on various factors that aff ect insect contamination, and consider eff ective countermeasures based on the analysis results. In order to formulate eff ective countermeasures, it is desirable to use a lot of data and to analyze and evaluate it from various aspects. For this purpose, the use of digital technology is eff ective.

We provide pest management support tools using digital technologies such as real–time monitoring system EMS–Q, insect image analysis system ESCO–AID, and integrated information management system ESCOEVO. Furthermore, we developed a system （RIG system） that can determine the type and number of insects captured by the trap with AI analysis and collect data in real time.

The application of these digital technologies improves the accuracy of data collection, analysis and evaluation, and enables cost reduction. Reduced costs can be turned into resources for improvement.

The Japan Paper Association （JPA） established its “Voluntary Action Plan on Environment” in 1997, in response to The Japan Business Federation’s call to the Japanese business community to organize “The Voluntary Action Plan on Environment”. Since then, JPA has carried out a follow–up survey and published the results every year.

As the Voluntary Action Plan finished in fiscal 2012, JPA newly started “the Action Plans towards a Low Carbon Society” and has been actively addressing global warming prevention in order to achieve the following targets set in the plan：

・‌Compared to BAU scenario （based on specific CO₂ emission rate of 2005）, reduce fossil energy–derived CO₂ emissions by 1.39 million tons by fiscal 2020.

・‌In view of securing forest resources and increasing forest carbon sink, expand forest plantation areas owned or managed by the paper industry at home and abroad to 700 thousand hectares by fiscal 2020.

According to the results of the fiscal 2019 follow–up survey （actual results for fiscal 2018）, fossil–energy derived CO₂ emissions in fiscal 2018 was 17.39 million tons, a 2.5％ reduction compared to the fiscal 2017（17.84 million tons）. Compared to BAU scenario, fossil energy–derived CO₂ emissions were reduced by 3.44 million tons, achieving the target of 1.39 million tons reduction by fiscal 2020.

This is attributed to each manufacturer’s active efforts including energy saving and energy conversion from fossil energy to non–fossil energy such as biomass energy.

In addition to the results of the follow–up survey, this report introduces the current energy situation in the Japanese paper industry, outline of the next phase of JPA’s Action Plan for Low Carbon Society spanning the ten–year period from fiscal 2021 through 2030 and the latest information of countermeasures against global warming.

The 20^th International Symposium on Wood, Fiber and Pulping Chemistry（ISWFPC）  was held at the University of Tokyo during September 9^th-11^th in 2019. It was supported and co-organized by Japan TAPPI and was also co-organized by the Japan Wood Research Society（JWRS）  and the Lignin Society. Although the emphasis is on basic research, extended delignification, oxygen delignification and ECF/TCF bleaching have characterized the development of pulping technology over the past 30 years. Application of biotechnology and fast-growing trees for pulping is closely related to the outcome of this symposium. In recent years, ISWFPC has played an active role in R&D on the chemical use of woody biomass, such as nanocellulose, polysaccharides and lignin.

When studying growth of a certain phenomenon in a long term, focusing on its yearly growth rate is sometimes more informative than focusing on its yearly output. With this view point, the progress in technology in industrialized society is reviewed.

The growth of Japan’s economy expressed by GDP experienced two turning points, one in 1975 and the other in 1990. After the latter, the annual growth rate of GDP was almost zero percent, and that of pulp and paper sector was minus one percent. Why the economy stagnated is a subject of this series of paper and I believe that the stalemate of progress of technology is one of the factors.

The paper machine was invented in early 1800’s, and, maintaining its basic design, have been increasing its running speed and machine width. Reviewing them by their annual growth rates, the running speed in creased at almost the same yearly growth rate of 2.6％ until 1990 and then stagnated. The machine width increased, in the same manner, at a yearly rate of 1.5％ until 1950 and then slowed down to 0.4％. Other technological progress like the volume of blast furnace in steel industry also slowed down in late 1900’s. It is reasoned that scaling up production process, one of key technologies since the industrial revolution, became stagnated as various goods mainly made of iron and steel have reached their physical limits. The solid state technology, invented in the 1950s, helped them reach their physical limits, but could not enlarge their limits. It, instead, has worked out a new society called information society, which will be discussed in the next issue.

At the beginning of the 2020s, the author was asked by the Editorial Committee of the Japan TAPPI Journal to deliver personal comments and proposals expecting innovative progress of the Journal. The first article of this series is intended to analyze the historical development of the organization of Japan TAPPI and current status.

The overall contents are described as below.

1. Introduction

2. The characteristics of the Japan TAPPI stemmed from its developmental process.

3. The characteristics of JAPAN TAPPI JOURNAL and its unique points.

4. The editorial areas covered by the JOURNAL.

5. The reason and way to maintain diversity of contents in the JOURNAL.

6. Specific double–sided nature of the Japan TAPPI: Industrial & Academic.

7. From author’s personal experiences.

8. Epilogue.

This research investigates the potential of neutral sulfite semi–chemical （NSSC） pulping method using moso–bamboo （Phyllostachys pubescens） as raw material. NSSC treatment took place in laboratory cooking system. Cooking liquor contained a mixture of sodium sulfite （Na₂SO₃） and sodium carbonate （Na₂CO₃） with a weight ratio of 2 to 1. Total chemical charge was 12% based on oven–dried weight of bamboo chips. Liquor to solid ratio was 4 to 1. Two–stage refining was used to fabricate fibers from cooked chips. The first stage was at 0.2 MPa and 120℃ and, the second stage was at normal pressure. A control experiment was involved under the same conditions with no charge of chemicals. NSSC pulping of bamboo resulted in providing a low brightness pulp but high pulp properties （tensile and tear indices） compared to the control pulp. NSSC method could help to reduce the contents of un–separated fiber bundles and shives. NSSC method provided a high aspect ratio of fibers compared to the control. After fibers development and fibrillation during refining, NSSC pulp contained a lot of ribbon–like fibrils which then contributed to a good fiber–to–fiber contact. In addition, the internal bonding between fiber–to–fiber of NSSC pulp may be increased reasonably by a significant amount of parenchyma cells appearing as fines（100 mesh pass）fraction, which were revealed by SEM im ages evaluation.

Observation of a coating layers is one of the most eff ective ways to improve latex binder for paper coating. For many years, we have studied coating layers and their latex binder with many analysis methods such as electron probe micro analysis, quantitative analysis of starch and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. Field emission scanning electron microscopy （FE–SEM） provides us with sharp images at high magnifi cation （Fig. 2）. By using FE–SEM, we clarifi ed a relationship between a coating layer and latex binder properties. In this paper, we show following three results of our works：1. an eff ect of diff erent drying conditions of coating layer on latex distribution in coating layers, 2. a relationship between latex particle size and dry pick strength of coating layers, 3. observation of coating layer with the new generation High–Performance latex.