It’s been dormant for nearly 50 years, but making paper from crop residue was once a substantial industry in North America, said Bob Hurter, a Canadian engineer who specializes in the process of turning non-tree fibres into pulp and paper.
“Straw used to be used extensively in the States up until the early ’60s, when the last straw mill closed down,” said Hurter, who owns and operates HurterConsult in Ottawa.
Despite its half-century absence, Hurter believes the timing is right to revive straw-based paper manufacturing in North America.
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“There’s a growing marketing for non-tree paper products. You see it in the States right now,” said Hurter, noting he recently heard of a deal where a company will supply an American restaurant chain with 400 million non-tree napkins.
“There’s a lot of product coming in from China and
from India. And that’s paper made from straw, from sugar cane bagasse and from bamboo.”
Several Manitoba entrepreneurs are betting the market for non-tree paper will continue to expand because they plan to construct a $600 million mill in the province to turn wheat, flax and other straws into pulp and paper.
One non-Manitoban investing in the project, called Prairie Pulp and Paper, is Woody Harrelson, an American actor.
“I’m a big believer in the chemurgy movement, which strives to develop new industrial products (fuel, paper, soaps, plastics, etc.) from organic raw materials, focusing specifically on materials from farmers. It is my hope to see this transition occur within the next decade,” Harrelson said in an e-mail toThe Western Producer.
“As for the viability of paper made from straw, we have proven its abilities to work in almost any context. It is only a question of time before some clever investor steps up and sees the massive market potential of producing environmentally ethical paper.”
In June, Prairie Pulp and Paper received a financial boost when the federal and Manitoba governments invested $400,000 to help the company with research and product development.
Although he wouldn’t comment directly on its chances of success, Hurter said it is possible for straw to compete with trees.
“My approach has always been if you can’t be comparable to tree-based paper, don’t even start,” said Hurter, who consults around the globe for mills that use all varieties of feedstock from bagasse to straw, reeds, grasses, bamboo and flax.
He said that manufacturing paper from wheat straw, rice straw and other non-tree sources is commonplace in China, India, Egypt and several countries in Europe.
Over the last five decades, turning straw and other non-tree products into paper has not been economically competitive in North America because of our abundance of trees.
“The tree just sits there until you need it, it just gets more weight over time,” he said, noting that straw-based paper mills closed down because 40 pound square bales were an inefficient way to harvest, store and process the straw.
But with round bales and better processing technology, it’s now possible to mechanize the process of turning straw into pulp and paper. However, non-tree mills are smaller, producing 150 to 300 tonnes of pulp per day, less than the 2,000 to 3,000 tonnes produced at a conventional pulp and paper mill.
Despite Hurter’s endorsement, many Manitobans likely remain skeptical due to the failure of the Isoboard strawboard plant in Elie.
Hurter said that had nothing to do with the economics of straw and everything to do with management.
One of Isoboard’s mistakes was using an expensive resin in the manufacturing process. Another was dropping the straw on the ground next to the mill, he said.
Prairie Pulp and Paper, when established, will become the first commercial-scale manufacturer of non-tree pulp and paper in North America.
