Top-Quality Agro-Based Fine Paper Produced on Pilot Scale, 1996 Pulping Conference Proceedings

Leena Paavilainen & Jorma Tulppala

Jaakko Pöyry Oy

Intensive development work covering the whole chain from raw material production to end product has led to a breakthrough in agroflbre utilization: top-quality tine paper can be produced from a specific non-wood fibre, reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.), at a reasonable cost. The production and processing concept developed has also been tested on pilot scale. In September 1995, bleached reed canary grass pulp was produced on pilot scale for the first time in the world. Cooked in a rotating digester at Tervakoski Ltd and bleached at Enso Research Centre, the pulp was made into paper on the pilot paper machine of the Finnish Pulp and Paper Research Institute. Part of the base paper was coated and the rest surface-sized. The printability of coated and uncoated reed canary grass based fine paper in offset printing was tested, too. Based on the results of the pilot trials and offset priming tests, reed canary grass is a promising short-fibre component for fine papers: part or all of the birch pulp can be replaced by reed canary grass pulp in a fine paper furnish.