The Alternative Fiber Pulp Mill
Better Paper, Cheaper and Cleaner
Earth Pulp and Paper
tree@tree.org
707 925-6494
fax: 707 925-6472
Introduction
Half
of all trees harvested are chipped up for the pulp mills. Half of all landfills
are composed of paper products. The purpose of the Alternative Fiber Pulp Mill
is to begin producing pulp for paper from the whole stalks of hemp and
agricultural waste, using no wood products at all, so that the last few trees
remaining on our planet may be spared the foolish waste of being converted to
landfill.
There
are plenty of alternative sources of cellulose for paper pulp, many of them
producing paper of finer grades than is possible by wood pulp alone. The
challenge is to put together the right combination of available alternative
pulp sources to produce paper of high quality that can be profitably marketed
at prices competitive with the established industry. We believe that this is
not only possible, but that a whole new and very profitable industry may be
realized from applications along the lines of the present project.
If
we can succeed in demonstrating the commercial potential of non-wood paper
production, we may safely leave it to market forces to make the chipping up of
trees for paper pulp become just another historical folly of the twentieth
century.
Alternative (Tree-Free) Fiber Sources
There
are a great variety of possible sources of cellulose for paper pulp, but they
fall into two categories:
1.
Fiber sources that can be cultivated for the fiber as a primary crop, as in
fiber hemp, Cannabis sativa, and kenaf, Hibiscus cannabinum. Both of these are
fast growing annuals that produce enormous quantities of high quality bast
fiber in a single season. Both plants also have woody stems, or hurds, that may
also be processed into pulp of lower quality. Many other plants may merit
further research.
2.
Fiber sources recycled from agricultural or industrial by-products: everything
from wheat straw to sunflower stalks, scraps from the garment industry, or rags
and cellulose discards recycled from other sources. These recycled materials
are not currently utilized. We are personally familiar with garment manufacturers
who pay for the privilege of burying their new, clean, white 100% cotton scraps
as landfill! This is incredibly stupid and just not consistent with today's
environmental consciousness or commercial opportunity.
The Hemp Issue:
Hemp
is widely known to be one of the cheapest and best sources of very high quality
cellulose for paper making. Until the present century, hemp was the backbone of
the paper industry for over two thousand years, and there is significant
interest in returning to the industrial potential of hemp all over the world,
not only because of the quality, length, and strength of the fiber, but also
because of the favorable economics of cultivation. There is twice as much
cellulose, ton for ton, as there is in wood chips, and the hemp plant can
produce abundant crops of both seed and fiber, with no pesticides and easy
cultivation. It has been largely overlooked in some studies of alternative
fibers because it has been illegal to grow it in this country for over fifty
years. However, times change, and the necessity of developing alternatives to
wood pulp, as well as the renewed popularity of hemp textiles have prompted
governments all over the world to reconsider their position regarding
industrial use of hemp. We are expecting to obtain a permit to cultivate fiber hemp on a small scale here
in
The
varieties which we will cultivate have been specifically developed for high
fiber yields and low THC content. Low THC fiber hemp varieties have been
cultivated uninterruptedly for thousands of years in China, Hungary, Bulgaria,
Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, and more recently in France, Spain, Holland,
Australia, Great Britain, Canada and Germany. Cultivated fiber hemp has
practically no THC, the psychoactive ingredient of varieties cultivated for
marijuana. We obtained seed of five varieties from the Bast Fiber Research
Institute in the
If
hemp were cultivated as a seed crop, the remaining stalks would be the ultimate
agricultural by-product for the paper mill. Hemp plants are capable of a large
production of seed every year. This seed has an unlimited potential for
industrial uses, as the oil derived from it is of very high quality.
Furthermore, the seed is highly nutritious. It is second only to soybeans in
the amount of protein it contains, and it also contains many other valuable
components: it is very high in essential fatty acids (80%), and among the
lowest in saturated fats (8%). (Fats and Oils: The Complete Guide to Fats and
Oils in Health and Nutrition, by Udo Erasmus, Ph.D.) In many circles, hemp seed
is the latest health food.
One
of the major problems to consider is the best method of producing pulp from
this variety of source material, since equipment designed for wood chips is not
easily transferable to alternative fibers. On our trips to the Ukraine, we were
introduced to the research being done by Dr. Krotov of the Pulp and Paper
Research Institute of Kiev: a new design for a machine to produce pulp from
whole stalk hemp and other materials that seems to offer many advantages over
current methods: higher yields, lower production costs, lower capital costs,
less pollution, less energy consumption, less water use, and, of particular
importance to the present proposal, adaptability to a wide variety of source
material. The process is a closed system that integrates all of the major
processes of pulp production in one unit. It recovers and recycles the
chemicals used, and even delivers the removed lignins and sugars as market
products rather than as part of a toxic sludge. See the New World Pulper for further details.
Three Phases of the Project:
The
first phase of the project is well advanced: at the Evanescent Press in northern Mendocino county,
We
are now engaged in realizing the second phase of the project: setting up a pulp
mill based on Dr. Krotov's design for experimental production of cellulose pulp
from all manner of available alternative (tree-free) sources. This new
technology appears to offer a great many advantages. It is clear that the
future of pulp and paper is with alternative fibers, and the sooner we begin
operating an experimental plant, the sooner we will be able to produce better
pulp more efficiently and cheaply than current methods. This pilot project will
be very small by industry standards, probably producing about 15 tons per day
of finished pulp. The first plant will probably be set up in
There
are so many variables in terms of the exact composition of the furnish, ratios
of included material, and/or modification of a paper machine to produce paper
of whatever grade is intended, that considerable research will be required
before optimum utilization of the technology is realized. Additionally, it will
be possible to utilize some of the lower grades of available cellulose material
for the production of additional market products, using only the better
materials for production of pulp suitable for paper. We may operate a paper
mill ourselves, or work in concert with existing mills.
The
third phase of the project would be a full scale industrial application of all
of the methods developed in phases one and two. In order to bring costs down to
a level where alternative fiber paper can compete successfully with wood based
paper in the long term, it will be necessary to adapt all of the components of
the project to the scale of the established industry. This will mean extensive
acreage of hemp cultivation, and the construction or renovation of large scale
pulping and paper making facilities. If the results of the first two phases of
the project are encouraging, we anticipate rapid growth to meet accelerating
demands world-wide.
Market Considerations:
As
paper makers, we receive numerous requests for commercial quantities of
"hemp paper" or "tree-free" paper, especially from
companies who wish to project an environmentally friendly image in their
catalog of products or newsletter. While these customers are quite prepared to
pay a premium for these papers, it is our expectation that it will be possible
to offer alternative fiber papers of superior quality at prices cheaper than
wood-based paper, once an initial period of research and development leads to
efficient and well capitalized commercial ventures. We are expecting that our
"green" paper will receive an enthusiastic reception in the market
place.
One
of the advantages of the design of the Krotov pulper is that hemp fiber need
not be retted and decorticated; it may simply be chipped up whole and raw, and
fed directly into the machine. This not only saves considerable labor and
handling cost, but it allows hemp to be cultivated primarily as a seed crop,
with all of the remaining biomass turned into pulp, except for the extracted
waste material which may be returned to the soil as fertilizer, or separated
into additional market products. The uses for hemp seed are extensive, and
there is no limit to the amount which could be used both for nutritional and
industrial uses. If we become involved in the cultivation of hemp for fiber, we
may wish to participate directly in these markets by producing a food product
from the seeds.