What is cellophane tape made from? Rewinding to the raw material | Rewind Factory #03
Short answer
- The clear backing, cellophane, is made from the cellulose in wood pulp.
- Cellulose is dissolved into a solution, formed into film through a narrow slot in an acid bath, and turned back into cellulose.
- The example tape has four layers, and similar-looking clear tapes can have different backings such as polypropylene.
Video
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Explained
In the video
- 0:00What is this clear film made from?
- 0:14How are narrow rolls made?
- 0:38How many layers does the tape have?
- 1:06Where is the clear backing made?
- 1:26Where is the film formed?
- 1:56What is pulp?
- 2:26What is the pulp made from?
- 2:51Where is cellulose in wood?
- 3:12Are all clear tapes made of the same material?
- 3:36What does the path look like forward?
- 3:54What are the backing and the adhesive in this example?
What do you think this clear film is made from? The wrapping closes back up, cuts between narrow rolls close, and coatings separate as we follow the clear backing deeper into the factory, in reverse.
The rewind route
This is one example route, following a cellophane backing made from wood pulp. No dates or elapsed times are assigned; the final column identifies stages of production. The route does not document particular factories or a raw-material supply chain.
| Stop | What happens here | Era / date |
|---|---|---|
| Shop | The finished roll returns to its wrapping and box, headed back to the factory. | Finished product on sale |
| Tape factory | Narrow rolls rejoin into a wide roll. Winding and drying run in reverse, then the coatings separate. | Tape production |
| Backing | We leave the paper core and adhesive on separate branches and follow only the clear cellophane film. | Before coating |
| Film plant | We retrace drying, softening and washing, then reach the narrow slot where the film is formed. | Film formation and finishing |
| Solution | The flat film disappears, taking us back to the solution containing the chemically processed material. | Before film formation |
| Pulp | We retrace the chemical reactions and dissolving steps to a mass of white fibers, mainly cellulose. | Before preparing the solution |
| Wood | Removed components return around the fibers, restoring wood chips, then timber. | Before extracting pulp |
| Forest | We return to trunks and standing trees, finding cellulose in the walls that support wood cells. | Before the trees become timber |
The rewind is a visual effect. It does not mean finished tape can actually be turned back into a tree.
What this episode shows
- This example's clear backing is cellophane, made by extracting cellulose from wood cell walls and chemically processing it into a film.
- This example has four layers: a coating that helps it unwind, the clear backing, a primer that bonds the adhesive to the backing, and the adhesive itself. The adhesive and paper core use different materials from the backing.
- Cellophane is not always made from wood. Other clear tapes use polypropylene, a type of plastic, as their backing; look for “backing” or “base material” in the manufacturer's product information.
See the video description for photograph credits, licenses and details of modifications.
Shorts
Sources
Where the facts and numbers in the video and on this page come from.
- NICHIBAN (— Manufacturing process: wood, pulp and cellophane; coating, winding, cutting and packaging (in Japanese))nichiban-cellotape.com/process
- NICHIBAN (— The four layers and their functions (in Japanese))nichiban-cellotape.com/merit
- Futamura (— Cellophane, pulp and cellulose (in Japanese))futamura.co.jp/products/cellophane
- Fukuoka University and Futamura (— Patent JP6286172B2: the description of the conventional viscose method, which turns pulp into a solution and then film)patents.google.com/patent/JP6286172B2/en
- Futamura (— Patent JP5931492B2: the paragraph on general cellophane manufacture, covering washing, finishing, drying and possible raw materials)patents.google.com/patent/JP5931492B2/en
- Japan Paper Association (— Glossary entries for dissolving pulp, chemical pulp and lignin: pulp purification and removed components (in Japanese))jpa.gr.jp/glossary
- NICHIBAN (— Cellophane and OPP tape: backing, adhesive and core materials, including polypropylene backing (in Japanese))nichiban-cellotape.com/difference
- NICHIBAN (— Product information listing the backing and adhesive separately (in Japanese))nichiban.co.jp/general/stationery/cellotape/big_box
- Photograph (modified): "Gray Tree Trunks Under the Clear Sky" by ClickerHappy, via Pexels, Pexels License. Cropped, with brightness adjustment, a slow camera push, and tracking light added. Sourcepexels.com/photo/gray-tree-trunks-under-the-clear-…
- Photograph (modified): "Gray Tree Trunks Under the Clear Sky" by ClickerHappy, via Pexels, Pexels License. Cropped, with brightness adjustment, a slow camera push, and tracking light added. Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/gray-tree-trunks-under-the-clear-sky-1005334/ Licensepexels.com/license
- Photograph (modified): "Woodchip (12140895823).jpg" by William Warby, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Cropped, with brightness adjustment, a slow camera push, and tracking light added. Sourcecommons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woodchip_(12140895823).jpg
- Photograph (modified): "Woodchip (12140895823).jpg" by William Warby, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Cropped, with brightness adjustment, a slow camera push, and tracking light added. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woodchip_(12140895823).jpg Licensecreativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Voice, music, art
- Music: “時計図書館” by MATSU / “考え中” by 鷹尾まさき (OpenTracks).
- Sound effects: simplewave, "Tape recorder rewind (Fanmade)," CC0 https://freesound.org/s/372876/ ; Kenney, Interface Sounds, CC0 https://kenney.nl/assets/interface-sounds ; 15HVojta_Michael, "small bell_3.wav," CC0 https://freesound.org/s/462043/ ; NearTheAtmoshphere, "Whoosh," CC0 https://freesound.org/s/683178/ . Other process sounds, diagrams and 3D models are original.
- Voice: synthetic narration (Kokoro, voice "Sarah")
