Thermo-mechanical pulp (market for thermo-mechanical pulp)

Emissions generated by the activity within the product supply chain as described in ecoinvent v3.10. The product 'thermo-mechanical pulp' (TMP) is a type of unbleached mechanical wood-containing pulp. Mechanical pulp is weaker than chemical pulp (sulfate and sulfite pulp) but has a higher light-scattering coefficients and opacity. In the TMP production process wood chips are thermally pre-treated with steam and defibrated in the refiner. Defibration can happen in a single stage under pressure and increased temperature or in two stages under high pressure (~about 3 bar) or at atmospheric pressure. During mechanical defibration lignin is plasticised and remains in the pulp. TMP cannot be brightened effectively by oxidative and reductive bleaching. The majority of mechanical pulp is produced at integrated pulp mills which directly process it further into (paper-) products and only a minor part of pulp production is sold on the market. TMP pulp is mainly used for Printing & writing papers and newsprint. The cut-off classification is allocatable product. The activity type is market activity. The reference product amount is 1.