Background
Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) is the major user of fibrous raw material in the country and use bamboo, wood and bagasse for the production of pulp and paper. Private sector paper and board mills are small and rely on imported pulp and waste paper. The paper industry of the country is small compared to present day world standards.

Recently annual plants have become preferred raw material in the world for pulp and paper. Jute/Kenaf is an annual plant. The stem of jute/kenaf consists of two fibrous components, both of which are suitable for paper and paper board products. The bark fibre is about 2.5 mm in length, constitutes 25 to 35 per cent by weight, and shorter core fibre about 0.6 mm in length constitutes 60-65 per cent by weight of the stem. The bark (fibrous material) is suitable for quality paper making and is similar to softwood fibres. Core fibre has strength properties similar to that of hard wood fibres. Jute has been traditionally used for packaging, transport and storage of agricultural products including sacks, bags, carpet backing cloth, etc. But traditional products are facing severe competition due to the emergence of synthetic substitutes.

Extensive research by scientists from various Institutes and pulp and paper mills led to the conclusion that most conventional pulping techniques are suitable for jute/kenaf pulping. Whole jute/kenaf has been successfully tried as a raw material for pulp and paper in Bangladesh, China, India, Thailand and USA.

Ministry of Industry approached IJO in 1995 to look for the availability of suitable enzyme that could be applied to produce pulp and paper.

While preparing the project the problems faced by the BCIC using green jute plant were taken into consideration. The project has been designed incorporating the development and progress made in the different institutes and paper mills, of USA, Canada and Europe.

Although demand for pulp and paper in North America and Europe is stable, the demand in Asia has increased significantly especially in Bangladesh, China, India and Thailand.

Since January 2001, Inte-rnational Jute Study Group (IJSG) (Former IJO) has been implementing a project to utilise whole jute as raw material for pulp and paper. The funding of the project has been provided by Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), the Gove-rnment of France, The European Commission (EC) and the Gove-rnment of Bangladesh.

Objective of the project
The project aims at developing technology for the use of green jute/kenaf (whole jute plant) as raw material for the production of pulp for paper. In developing such a technology, it is intended to reduce consumption of chemicals through introduction of eco-friendly production processes, reduce energy cost and cost of production.

The pulp and paper industry normally uses chemical or mechanical methods or a combination of the two to produce pulp of desired character. Chemical pulping accounts for about 75 per cent of the world pulp production. It has the disadvantage of being capital and energy intensive. Mechanical pulping is electrical energy intensive and yields paper with less strength. These disadvantages limit the use of mechanical pulping in many grades of paper.

Optimisation of pulping
In this project BCIC/IJSG (Bangladesh), CPPRI (India) and CTP (France) have optimised the conditions of pulping in laboratory scale using two main chemical processes (Soda AQ and Kraft). Bleaching of Jute Pulp was also carried out at all these institutes. ISO brightness of 80-81 per cent was obtained using various sequences of bleaching. Similarly mechanical pulping (high yielding) conditions have been optimised at Centre Technique du Papier (CTP, France) and Agrotechnological Research Institute (ATO), The Netherlands.

Large scale and commercial trial
Procurement: For the procurement of jute plant, scientists of IJSG/BCIC visited several jute-growing areas of Bangladesh. For jute fibre, there are several agencies and local traders. Jute plants are not generally sold in the open market. In order to procure the jute plant farmers were contacted and negotiated for supplying green jute plant. While fixing the price of jute plant normal sale proceed of jute fibre and that of stick were counted together and from this amount cost of normal retting was deducted. After thorough discussion with them (farmers), price of jute plant was fixed at Tk. 1,050/ton (after defoliation).

Chipping, storing and application of fungicide: In the past major problems were in the areas of storing, chipping and use of proper fungicide for long-term storage. This project has taken care of all the aforesaid problems and overcome them successfully.

Cooking: After the optimization of pulping IJSG/BCIC scientists conducted one large scale trial for the producing of kraft paper (14 MT of dried jute plant which is equivalent to 56 MT of green jute plant) and one commercial trial for the production of writing paper (80 MT of dried jute plant which is equivalent to 320 MT of green jute plant) in April and October respectively.

In the past, globe digester was used for the production of pulp and paper using green jute plant. It may be mentioned here that Phoenix Paper Mill of Thailand has been producing pulp using whole kenaf for the last 23 years in stationery digester. After the visit of IJSG/BCIC scientist to Phoenix, large scale and commercial trials were conducted in the conventional digester successfully. For the production of writing paper, the conventional chlorine-alkali-hypo chloride sequences were used. After adding necessary adhesives, kraft paper of 75 gsm was made at KPM. Similarly, writing paper of 70 gsm was also produced at KPM using their existing paper machine.

Physical properties of writing paper have also been compared with that made of bamboo and tropical wood. Physical properties of jute writing paper are superior to paper made from bamboo and tropical wood.

Different elements of cost have been calculated on the basis of present cost figures of KPM, BCIC. The cost estimates did not include the cost element of transportation. This cost element will vary from locational point. Yield of chemical pulping is about 45-48 per cent, which is suitable for writing and printing paper. However, in case of mechanical pulping yield is 85-88 per cent, which is suitable for newsprint. We strongly feel that in order to avoid unnecessary cost of transportation, jute/kenaf-based paper mill should be set up at the vicinity of jute/kenaf growing areas. The cost of making paper from whole jute plant appears to be the same as that of bamboo but cheaper than wood.

The project has also introduced biotechnological measures in the optimised condition of chemical and mechanical pulping. It has been possible to reduce chemical charge and cooking time. In the mechanical process, it has been possible to reduce 30 per cent energy requirement. It is also possible to reduce chemical requirement in various bleaching sequences by 15 and 45 per cent using enzyme and oxygen respectively.

In case of chemical pulping, cost of production can be reduced if a new mill is set up where efficiency of chemical recovery can be improved by 10-12 per cent. Introduction of oxygen / enzyme can also reduce bleaching cost significantly. Application of oxygen / enzyme will make the product cost effective and environment friendly.

UNIDO is in the process of appointing an international consultant for the techno economic feasibility study. A workshop is being planned in the last week of April to disseminate the results of the project.

Dr. G. Mohiuddin is Project Leader, International Jute Study Group (IJSG)