Strategy for the Development of a Kenaf Based Pulp and Paper Industry, 1991 Pulping Conference Proceedings

Kenaf is a fiber which in recent years has been the subject of a great deal of research, investigation and commercial analysis both in developed and developing countries. However, non-wood pulp and paper industries were only able to produce standard commercial grades on a significant scale, in the developing countries. The strategy put forward in this paper suggests that the establishment of an integrated pulp and paper industry based on the separated long and short fiber components of the kenaf, will have a better chance of success - both in developed and developing countries - than producing chemical market pulp only. To achieve this, a commercial scale fiber production, separation and processing plant has to become operational in order to demonstrate the new technologies required and confirm the fiber production and processing costs for the project. Such a plant will become operational in January 1992 in the State of Mississippi and it will be the first facility of its kind anywhere in the world. In addition, a serious product development research project needs to be instigated to satisfy an increasingly conscious, environmentally aware purchasing public about an alternative source of fiber to the increasing utilization of forest resources.