Paper harvest

Story by Kieran Brett

Making paper from crop residue could benefit farmers and the environment. Alberta researchers are trying to make it work.

Could paper one day be harvested from a farmer’s field instead of the forest? It’s an intriguing, environment-friendly possibility and one that researchers at the Alberta Research Council are hard at work on.

One of these is Wayne Wasylciw. With an extensive background in family farming, he knows all about the headaches caused by excess crop residue –  the organic material left in the field once the food component of the plant is harvested.

As a member of the Forest Products Team at the Alberta Research Council (ARC), he’s working to find ways to use crop residue as an ingredient in paper production. It’s a promising area of practical research known as agrifibre, taking place at ARC under the leadership of Wasylciw’s colleague, Wade Chute. “The agrifibre field encompasses a variety of non-wood materials that can be used in place of wood,” says Wasylciw, who’s also studying the use of crop residue in making building materials.

Wainwright area farmer Dennis Killoran has been a supporter of the program for several years now, providing straw for research purposes. “There’s never going to be a situation where straw completely replaces wood,” says Killoran. “But, I believe products like hemp and flax straw can be an ingredient in papermaking in the long run, and it could provide a bit of revenue for farmers.”

Discovering the Possibilities

The use of agrifibres in papermaking could pay off in at least two ways. Environmentally, it provides another way for farmers to manage their fields sustainably. Economically, it could increase farmers’ incomes and diversify paper manufacturers’ fibre sources.

The research thus far suggests that crop straw can be used as a practical alternative to wood pulp in certain papermaking applications. The more researchers study the possibilities, the more they learn about the pulp-producing properties of different types of straw.

“Wheat straw works well, but it has a naturally occurring chemical that makes it difficult to bleach,” says Wasylciw. “That means it’s not a good choice for applications like photocopy paper, which needs to be white. On the other hand, wheat straw could be appropriate for newsprint. Hemp bleaches quite easily.”

From Pilot Project to Commercial Use

While initial results are encouraging, Wasylciw notes that widespread commercial acceptance of agrifibre will take time. “The pulp and paper industry has 50 or 60 years worth of research on paper production based on wood,” he says. “We have just a few years of information on agrifibre, so we’re very much at the bottom of the learning curve.”

In the business climate of 2005, several factors are expected to delay the commercial progress of agrifibre in paper. First, paper prices have been relatively stagnant, so manufacturers have little incentive to consider new raw materials and invest in new processes. Second, wood pulp prices are at historically low levels.

Even if researchers can demonstrate the benefits of agrifibre, making it work on a commercial scale is a daunting task. For starters, paper companies will have to come to grips with a range of issues like supply, transportation, storage and grading of agrifibre materials.

Wearing his farmer hat, Wasylciw believes the agrifibre opportunity will appeal to farmers in Alberta. “If a farmer can add 10% to his income and solve his crop residue issues at the same time, it’s going to look good,” he says. “You can even see the day when a farmer might plant half his land to food crops and half to industrial crops.”