Wood-fibre for future products from pulp Paul Kibblewhite

Wood-fibre for papermaking The next 10 – 20 years

Wall area  Coarseness Number  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

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 pine How Do? Wood/chip segregation Pulp fractionation Conventional breeding, hybridisation and cloning Genetic modification

Market kraft categories through wood/chip segregation

“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 limited Pulp fractionation by fibre collapse Yet to be achieved Genetic 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 combinations 1. Separate EW & LW fibre populations

2. Low or high coarseness rod-like fibre populations

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

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