Wood-fibre for future products from pulp

Paul Kibblewhite

Wood-fibre for papermaking

The next 10 – 20 years

Wall area CoarsenessNumber 1/(wall area x length)

Width/thickness = Fibre collapse (in dried sheet)Perimeter/wall thickness 1/(Wood density) Collapse

Fibre property interrelationships

Softwood versus Hardwood fibres

Furnish mix components

• Softwood fibres for reinforcement, runnability and robustness

• Hardwood fibres for bulk, surface & optical properties, and formation

Eucalypt fibre selection for papermaking

• Plantation-grown species, hybrids and clones

• Short crop rotations at 5+ years• Chip density about 550 kg/m³• High kraft pulp yield• Target fibre coarseness, length and collapse

resistance• Target sheet bulk and tensile strength

Globulus a premium eucalypt fibre-type

Where to in short-term?

• Conventional breeding and propagation technologies

• Short crop rotations• High forest productivity and disease

resistance• Emphasis on low cost, rapid propagation

procedures, and screening tools • Genetic modification of lower priority

Softwood fibre-types

123 80 52

Softwood pulp uniformity by fibre-type

Northern is the premium softwood fibre-type

• Low coarseness

• long and slender

• High number

• Low MFA

• High hemicelluloses

• Low refining energy

• Long crop rotations

Northern fibre-type from radiata pineHow Do?

• Wood/chip segregation

• Pulp fractionation

• Conventional breeding, hybridisation and cloning

• Genetic modification

Market kraft categories through wood/chip segregation

125 110 100 76

“Rods and Ribbons”Pulp fractionation by fibre collapse

Breeding for fibre quality

Select for

Low Fibre Coarseness

while

retaining or increasing

Density and Length

Coarseness

Wood-fibre number

Radiata pine fibre improvements in the short-term

Wood/chip segregation• Further advances limitedPulp fractionation by fibre collapse• Yet to be achievedGenetic modification, and breeding for low coarseness• Pulp mill is a residue user • “Change” required for pulpwood regimes and fibre

quality improvement

Pulp-fibre for papermaking 50 years on!Who Knows?

Today’s commodities

• Tissue, sanitary and packaging products, possibly OK

• Junk-mail, newsprint, communication and hard-copy, probably limited?

Today’s specialty cement reinforcement pulp?

Wood-fibre for future bio-products from pulp:A 50-year horizon

Softwood and Eucalypt-type pulp-fibre 50 years on

• Short rotation pulpwood regimes (5 – 10 years)• Highly uniform fibre property populations• Earlywood- and latewood-type pulps• Wide range of chemical and physical fibre-

property combinations

Many possible fibre property combinations1. Separate EW & LW fibre populations

Latewood Earlywood

Rod-like Ribbon-like Same coarseness

Thick wall Thin wall, Small perim Large perim Uncollapsed Collapsed

2. Low or high coarseness rod-like fibre populations

High coarseness Low coarseness Few fibres Many fibres

Small surface cm²/g Large surface cm²/g Same Chip density

Wall thick/perim Collapse

3. Four plus fibre-property combinations for future products from pulp

Rod-like populations Ribbon-like populations Low coarseness High coarseness Low coarseness High coarseness Many Few Many Few Low collapse Low collapse High collapse High collapse Low or high MFA Low or high MFA Low or high MFA Low or high MFA Long or short Long or short Long or short Long or short

Fibre property combinations

Designer fibres

through

Purpose-grown, short-rotation crops

for

Sustainable designer products

Fibre-property-combination research

Genetic modification

A critical success requirement

• Assay procedures to screen genotypes at the plantlet stage (3 months?)

Back to Reality!Who pays? • Fibre-property-combination research and development• Product identification processes • Fibre property combination selection and supply• Product development

Constraints• Costs• Sustainability, and product- and market-driven • Green-house effect