Cannabis Study House - ＵＳＡ・ヘンプ・ミュージアム、ヘンプ・パルプ紙、ヘンプ紙再考

ヘンプ紙再考

The following editorial is an industry look at paper production and hemp. True pulp paper replaced papyrus as the source of writing material that eventually fostered the spread of the written knowledge out of China to the world. Hemp was one of the largest cash crops in the world until the late 19^th century, when new technology (cotton gin) and cheap foreign fibers began to replace it. Paper made from hemp lasts many times longer than that made of wood pulp, without yellowing, cracking or otherwise deteriorating.

Hemp pulp does not require as much (if any) of the acids needed to break down lignin as wood, does not require ozone layer destroying bleach, does not cause dioxin pollution, and has been called the "archivist's perfect paper." Restrictions on hemp have led to the destruction of about 70% of American forests since 1937, which were cut for paper. The European Community is at present subsidizing the growing of hemp for paper for the very reason that Europe cut down all its trees for paper and has none left. America's first paper mills used hemp and other rags to produce paper. We will restore hemp to its rightful place in the history of the world, too bad we didn't do it nine years ago when this article was written. But what do the paper people say about hemp? The following is from the editor Jim Young of the trade magazine Pulp and Paper, June 1991, titled:

IT'S TIME TO RECONSIDER HEMP
Pulp and Paper Magazine, Editorial,1991.

Let me say up front that I have never smoked a commercially made cigarette, much less that devil weed with roots in hell. Passed through the "60's" without a single pair of tie-dyed bell bottoms. Identified more with Merle Haggard's "Okie from Muscogee" than Jim Morrison's "Light my Fire."

Yet I believe that Indian hemp (cannabis sativa - yes, that cannabis) has more to offer the paper industry than we are taking advantage of (or more correctly, we are allowed to take advantage of.)

Tradition, if not federal law, is on the side of hemp, starting with Ts'ai Lun himself. According to the book The Emperor Wears no Clothes, by Jack Herer, from 75% to 90% of the world's paper manufactured before 1883 was made from cannabis hemp fiber, including the Gutenberg bible and the first two drafts of the Declaration of Independence. Augmenting the tradition of hemp fiber, the USDA in 1916 predicted a paper making future for nonfiberous portions of the hemp stalk in its Bulletin No. 404, Hemp Hurds as Paper-making Material. Hemp hurds are 0.5 inch to 3 inch pieces of the woody inner portion of hemp that have been separated from the fiber. Hurds contain more than 77% cellulose.

Reporting on paper making tests with hemp hurds, the bulletin concluded, "Hemp hurd stock acts similarly to soda popular stock, but will produce a somewhat harsher and stronger sheet and one of higher folding endurance..." In fact, the hurd stock might very possibly meet with favor as a book stock furnish in the Michigan and Wisconsin paper mills, which are with the sulphite fiber producing region.

A long awaited mechanized breakthrough in removing the fiber-bearing cortex from the rest of the hemp stalk "without a prohibitive use of human labor" was described in a three page article in the February 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics entitled, "The New Billion Dollar Crop." Written at the time of the passage of the federal Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, the article included the challenge, "If federal regulations can be drawn to protect the public without preventing the legitimate culture of hemp, this new crop can add immeasurably to American agriculture and industry." This was not to be however. Perhaps not coincidentally, the tax act uprooted the Billion dollar crop (1938 dollars) before it could be planted.

It is the dried flowers and top leaves of the female Cannabis sativa, of course, that constitute marijuana. Without opening the debate on its legalization or the psychotropic effects of its delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, it is worth noting that interest in paper making from hemp continues as our fiber, energy, and environmental concerns increase.

70's" was a decade of intensive study of Cannabis paper making, particularly in Italy, France, Spain, and Holland. Different varieties of hemp have been developed for various paper making applications, depending on the cooking process and end use of the pulp. Concurrent research and selective breeding reduced THC content. In France, farmers must obtain low-THC cannabis seed directly from the National Hemp Producers Federation, inform the Ministries of Health and Agriculture of their intent, and have a guaranteed purchaser of their crop.

The high cost of limited production currently restricts hemp to specialty use such as European and Asian cigarette papers. Cannabis hemp can probably be pulped in existing kenaf paper pulping equipment, but it will take more than imported stock to make it economically feasible.

Hemp is the world's primary biomass producer, growing ten tons per acre in approximately four months. It can produce four times the amount of paper/acre than 20 year old trees and will grow in all climatic zones of the contiguous 48 states.

Pyrolysis of hemp can be adjusted to produce charcoal, pyrolytic oil, gas, or methanol with a claimed 95.5% fuel to feed efficiency. Pyrolytic fuel oil has properties similar to Nos. 2 and 6 fuel oil. Burning charcoal does not cause acid rain.

U.S. hemp growing restrictions were set aside to meet material shortages during WWII. They should now at least be modified to meet pending shortages of fiber, energy, and environmental quality."

http://hempmuseum.org/
Un-Copyright 2003 USA HEMP MUSEUM. SPREAD THE WORD All rights NOT reserved

▲