Kind of like what our paper mill does. We take pine trees, debark them and burn the bark for energy. The trees are then made into chips and then into paper (which is essentially cardboard material for boxes).
Man that was a BORING class in college but I ended up with a "B". Don't remember anything about it other than the professor was pretty dry and monotone!
What do you do in the lab? I was the lead in the environmental lab at our aluminum smelter, which is now curtailed, so I am a 1 man lab now! Hence why I have more time to look up smoking stuff...
6 years ago we had about 12 people and now we are down to 4. We do testing related to paper. Viscosity testing, burst strength, crush strength (pretty much seeing how much pressure it would take to burst a cardboard box or crush boxes stacked together). There's a ton of paper tests that we do. Also pulp testing (white paper). We make 2 kinds of paper brown and white (brown is used to make cardboard boxes, white is used as absorbent material in diapers, medical pads, maxi pads, etc). I also calibrate a lot of the equipment throughout the mill. With the cut jobs I have my work cut out for me but it pays very well and plenty of overtime. Not to mention one of our coworkers has been out since Jan so we are a man short. Not sure if he will be back because he had a stroke but last I talked to him he was planning on coming back. I hope he does because he has years of experience and a ton of knowledge.
