| BioRegional MiniMills
UK Ltd, have developed a new environmentally-friendly technology
which will enable the use of wheat straw as a raw material to produce
quality printing and writing paper. A pilot project in Manchester
has seen technology developed that could mean thousands of tonnes
of straw from UK farms can be used to make paper, reducing pressure
on the world’s forests.
BioRegional MiniMills estimate
that straw could replace up to 20 percent of imported wood pulp
currently used by the paper industry, opening up a market worth
some £27 million to UK farmers. The work was part funded by
DEFRA, the Home Grown Cereals Authority, the JJ Charitable Trust
and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and was carried out in partnership
with UK paper manufacturers.
Sue Riddlestone, Managing Director
of BioRegional MiniMills comments that: “the UK paper industry
currently purchases wood pulp which, as an imported commodity product,
is subject to significant price fluctuations. Market research carried
out by BioRegional has shown that there is a high level of support
in the paper industry for using a price stable UK produced pulp.
Wheat straw pulp could meet this need, it is an excellent material
for paper making which was used in the UK within living memory and
is still used to make 8% of paper around the world. The main thing
which has hampered the use of straw for paper making has been the
lack of clean technology, which we have now developed.”
Straw is bulky and uneconomic
to transport over large distances, so is best pulped locally at
a smaller scale. Previously there has been no technology to deal
with the effluent produced by small pulp mills, known as “black
liquor”. The only available technology operated at a very
large scale. Consequently straw mills were closed down or in some
developing countries continue to operate causing significant water
pollution. BioRegional have developed the MiniMill technology to
recover energy from this effluent, which is then used to provide
renewable energy to power the mill. Pulping chemicals are also recovered
for re-use in the pulping process. This closed-loop system prevents
harmful effluent from entering rivers and watercourses.
BioRegional MiniMill technology
can be installed easily at existing paper mill sites, or in complete
new small-scale mills near to the sources of the raw material. By
encouraging local production, the MiniMill technology supports the
development of local jobs and industries and helps to reduce carbon
related transport emissions. A study by Surrey University shows
that local pulp supply reduces transport emissions by up to 90%
when compared to imported pulp.
Following the success of the pilot
plant in Manchester, BioRegional MiniMills is seeking partners to
build an industrial scale MiniMill in the UK. The company also wants
to transfer the technology to rapidly developing countries such
as China and India where the technology is urgently needed, and
start a new wave of smaller scale local paper production from agricultural
residues the world over. BioRegional’s research concludes
that straw and other agricultural residues could meet global demand
for paper pulp five times over. Despite this potential, less than
10% of the world’s paper is currently made from this waste
today.
BioRegional MiniMills are holding
an Open Day on 20th July to present the findings of the MiniMill
trials and to provide an opportunity to see the pilot scale MiniMill
technology in action.
This will take place at
Ahlstrom Radcliffe Pulp Processing Plant, Sion Street, Radcliffe,
Manchester M26 3SB from 11am to 3pm. The event includes lunch and
a one hour demonstration of the technology.
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