Papermaking Facility Construction: Pipelines You Will Need to Make the Factory Work

If you have plans to build a papermaking facility, then during your facility construction you will need to hire a plumbing contractor and/or pipeline construction contractor. Here are the many different types of pipelines you will need in this line of business.

"Water In" Pipelines

Since your plant is more than likely situated near a natural body of water for hydropower and/or to have immediate access to the volume of water needed to make paper, you need "water in" pipes. These pipes will bring water in from the outside source, filter it, and disperse it throughout the factory. You will need multiple pipe channels and maybe even water reserve tanks to hold extra litres of filtered water. 

"Water Out" Pipelines

Modern papermaking facilities still produce a lot of wastewater. This is the direct result of rinsing, draining the vats of pulp, and sending the pulp through strainers and dryers. The wastewater is often collected, cleaned, and purified. However, some companies may choose to either send it through the nearest water treatment facility via pipeline, or recycle some of the water they pull into the plant and reuse it in the vats.

Chemical Pipelines

The acid baths that turn wood pulp into paper will need their own sets of tanks and pipelines so that there is no cross-contamination of the water intake lines and the chemical lines. Both a chemical line and a water intake line should lead to the pulp vats, but both line openings should also have backwash restriction valves. These valves will not allow water to enter the chemical lines nor allow the chemicals to enter the water lines by accident. Regular flushing of the lines will also help prevent traces of these papermaking elements from hanging around where they should not be.

Propane or Natural Gas Pipelines

If you plan to use propane or natural gas to fuel your factory's power needs and processes, then you will also need separate pipelines for propane and/or natural gas. These explosive elements should never be mixed with the papermaking chemicals, and while water will not cause the propane or gas to explode, it will displace the gases and absorb them into the water supply. You may also be considering the use of propane or natural gas as a means to heat the vats of wood chips to turn them into pulp, in which case the propane or gas you have pumped into the vat rooms will have to be channeled through their own pipes into the factory from tanks outside. The gas tanks can be stored in another part of the factory, too.