Technology - Overview

Please Note:

The information contained below is for the purposes of comparing traditional paper making methodologies with the Papyrus Technology. There are many different ways to measure outputs and efficiencies of manufacturing processes, all of which are influenced by additional factors such as location, raw materials and energy availability.

Where we quote tonnages, water consumption, chemical usages and other data, we obtain this information from sources such as the United Nations (UNFAO) or Paper Making and other credible sites.

Our intention is to illustrate the potential of the Papyrus Technology NOT to minimise the efforts of the paper making industry as it is currently configured. The information contained in this section represents our best estimate of the situation and should not be construed as the only method by which such issues can be desribed.

Ultimately, the Papyrus Technology is a tool that the Paper Making Industry can use to produce products that have a significantly lower impact on the environment using a fibre resource that until now has not been available to the Industry

Overview

Current paper production technologies are faced with considerable environmental challenges. Consumer environmental awareness increasingly rigorous environmental standards require current pulp & paper producers to make significant investments aimed at reducing:

• The amount of water used during production;
• The amount of energy consumed (and greenhouse gases generated)
• The amount of chemical additives in the production process;
• The amount of harmful chemicals in the effluent released back into the environment.

The optimum parameters for an environmentally friendly, and sustainable paper production industry include:

• Renewable raw materials: preferably a non-seasonal secondary fibre crop. BTT is a prime example given that it is cropped continually all year round;
• Low water and energy usage;
• Low levels of introduced chemical additives;
• Low effluent discharge, with any discharge non-toxic and non-pollutive.

The Papyrus Technology - Overview

The Papyrus Technology meets all of the criteria required to be termed an environmentally sustainable manufacturing process:

1. BTT is the source of fibre, a previously unutilised, non seasonal fibre resource;
2. Production occurs amidst the plantations, reducing transport and resultant pollution;
3. No water is consumed during the production process;
4. Minimal amounts of energy are required;
5. No chemical additives are consumed in the production process;
6. No effluent is discharged or released into the environment. The by-products of manufacturing are restricted to fluid (basically water) from the banana plant and off cuts usable as mulch which will be returned to the plantations from which supply of raw material is sourced.

The Papyrus Technology includes the scientific, practical and industrial know-how, processes, machinery and equipment necessary to convert banana tree trunk (BTT) into paper or veneer products.

The Papyrus Technology is unique in the world and fits between the conventional pulp & paper technology and the lumber veneering and custom wood technologies.

The Technology (and the products produced from it) are protected by a Patent in 160 countries.
It may be that this technology is the only fully sustainable paper making technology currently available in the paper industry. Given that the process is based on a renewable source of an otherwise unutilised material, there is no contribution to the destruction of natural forests or purpose planted plantations or a requirement for dedicated crop plantations.

The inherent attributes of the fibre of BTT allow the possibility of utilising naturally long fibres to create paper. The use of these long fibres produces a product that is stronger and more durable than traditional pulped paper.

Preserving the natural structure of the fibre in conjunction with the lignin bonds available in the BTT is the key to producing a quality end product that is water repellent, does not transmit moisture, grease or solvents and exhibits low flammability properties.

The Papyrus Technology changes the physical shape of the raw material and cures the newly shaped fibres to produce a stable marketable end product with a unique appearance and physical properties.

The Papyrus Technology provides a number of distinct market advantages over other technologies available or currently in development:

• Environmentally sustainable process with a low carbon footprint
• Commercially competitive; significantly lower cost of production by comparison with traditional pulping technologies.
• Raw material is an unutilised, non-seasonal fibre resource
• No deforestation or destruction of natural forest resources
• Products are unique in appearance and physical properties