There are two main fibrous raw materials used in papermaking, woodchips (43%) and recovered paper (42%), the rest being other pulp (1%) and non-fibrous materials (14%). In addition, a quantity of additives (mainly natural mineral fillers) and dyestuffs are used together with traces of auxiliary chemicals.
So basically the forest provide directly and indirectly all the primary raw material required to make paper. In prehistoric times, forests covered over 80% of Europe. But an ever increasing demand for land for food production, and the rapid changes during the industrialisation period, led to extensive exploitation and the area of forest was reduced to less than one quarter by the end of the 19th century. However, once man began to realise the value of wood as a resource, this decline was reversed through the large-scale reforestation of the past 150 years. In 2002 the recorded area of Europe's forests was 329 million hectares, and today is about 30% of the land area.
Wood is the primary raw material for the pulp and paper industry because it is the main source of cellulose fibre. Non-wood materials, for example cotton and cereal crops such as straw, can be used for papermaking but the advantage of a year-round wood supply, combined with the product diversity made possible by mixing wood fibres, has made it the most practical and economic option. However, nowadays the paper demand is increasing and in order to be sustainable, papermaking has to manage the forest resources, with the risk of a shortage of suitable raw materials.
Other alternative materials, rich in cellulose, were tested in the last decade, for example wheat straw, surplus of which is available in many EU member states, or beet pulp residual from the sugar production process; however, quality issues have generally prevented their use.
Apparently, for this issue, biotechnology's potential isn't fully exploited. In fact novel pulping process could be developed, aimed to overcome the above mentioned quality problems (that are mainly due to too short cellulose fibres); for instance, several microfungi are able to produce cellulose-like biopolymers, growing directly on vegetable biomasses or even on paper industry effluents.
Another option could be starch, that has been used extensively in paper industry, for different uses, mainly in its native form. The development of new efficient starch derivatives with a high degree of hydroxyl groups, obtained by chemical and biological modifications, allow the bonding promotion between short fibres, creating new, longer ones, thus allowing the production of stronger paper of better quality.
Most probably, it will be impossible replace the woodpulp for papermaking, but a modern approach to the preliminary stages of the process could allow a reduction of virgin fibres needed for good quality paper.
So basically the forest provide directly and indirectly all the primary raw material required to make paper. In prehistoric times, forests covered over 80% of Europe. But an ever increasing demand for land for food production, and the rapid changes during the industrialisation period, led to extensive exploitation and the area of forest was reduced to less than one quarter by the end of the 19th century. However, once man began to realise the value of wood as a resource, this decline was reversed through the large-scale reforestation of the past 150 years. In 2002 the recorded area of Europe's forests was 329 million hectares, and today is about 30% of the land area.
Wood is the primary raw material for the pulp and paper industry because it is the main source of cellulose fibre. Non-wood materials, for example cotton and cereal crops such as straw, can be used for papermaking but the advantage of a year-round wood supply, combined with the product diversity made possible by mixing wood fibres, has made it the most practical and economic option. However, nowadays the paper demand is increasing and in order to be sustainable, papermaking has to manage the forest resources, with the risk of a shortage of suitable raw materials.
Other alternative materials, rich in cellulose, were tested in the last decade, for example wheat straw, surplus of which is available in many EU member states, or beet pulp residual from the sugar production process; however, quality issues have generally prevented their use.
Apparently, for this issue, biotechnology's potential isn't fully exploited. In fact novel pulping process could be developed, aimed to overcome the above mentioned quality problems (that are mainly due to too short cellulose fibres); for instance, several microfungi are able to produce cellulose-like biopolymers, growing directly on vegetable biomasses or even on paper industry effluents.
Another option could be starch, that has been used extensively in paper industry, for different uses, mainly in its native form. The development of new efficient starch derivatives with a high degree of hydroxyl groups, obtained by chemical and biological modifications, allow the bonding promotion between short fibres, creating new, longer ones, thus allowing the production of stronger paper of better quality.
Most probably, it will be impossible replace the woodpulp for papermaking, but a modern approach to the preliminary stages of the process could allow a reduction of virgin fibres needed for good quality paper.
