Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of Nonwoods: Progress, Challenges and Opportunities for Nonwood Plant Fibers in the Paper Industry, 1995 Pulping Conference Proceedings

John T. McCloskey

Process Evaluation and Development Corporation

(PEADCO)

This year 1995 the Nonwood Plant Fibers Committee celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary, and its twenty-sixth consecutive participation in the technical program of the annual Pulping Conferences. It has contributed to the conferences over 300 technical papers and more than a dozen roundtable discussions on all aspects of the utilization of nonwood plant fibers for paper and board. While man first made paper from nonwood plant fibers, the rapid development of wood pulping technology in the last century and the economic advantages of wood as a pulping material led to the displacement of nonwood fibers except for specialty paper applications and for commodity grades in those regions of the world where wood was in short supply. Significant improvements in the handling, fiber preparation and pulping of nonwoods in the last 30 years have fueled an increase in the use of these fibers in papermaking. Today about 11% of all papermaking pulps produced worldwide come from nonwood plant fibers, up from about 5% twenty five years ago, and growing at a rate of 2.5% per year compared to 1% for wood pulp. In wood deficient regions, nonwoods are the main source of pulp. Some twenty countries produce over 50% of their pulp from nonwoods. In the fast growing markets of China and India, nonwoods are the source for some 87% and 56%, respectively, of the domestic pulp productions. In contrast, in the U.S.A. the production of papermaking pulps from nonwood plant fibers is less than one-third of one percent of the total paper pulp production. But times are changing. The rising demand for a wide range of pulp-derived products coupled with recent interest in tree-free papers, concern over the future wood fiber supply, changing agricultural practices and pending environmental restrictions on the disposal of agricultural "waste" fibers have caused a renewed interest in nonwoods as a fiber resource for the paper industry’s future in North America and Europe, as well as, in the traditionally tree deficient regions of the world. The panelists for this Roundtable will share their expertise in highlighting the progress in overcoming the obstacles in the use of nonwood plant fibers, and will discuss in an open forum their views on the opportunities, constraints and challenges to the more wide-spread use of these fibers in the future growth of the paper and allied industries.