Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Bernard Brochier
Formerly Centre Technique du Papier, France
13.1 Introduction
the first paper sheets (reported in China in
105
AD
) were made of hemp fibre. Although
no one knows what these sheets look like, this
does indicate that hemp is a suitable paper-
making material. Paper historians do agree that
the earlier Egyptian papyrus sheet should not
be referred to as paper, because the fibre
strands are woven and not 'wet laid'. Chinese
papermaking craftsmanship was transferred to
Arabic and North African countries, and from
there to Europe.
Until the early 19th century, the raw mate-
rial for papermaking was rags, or worn-out
clothes. Since at that time clothing was made
solely of hemp and flax (sometimes cotton or
wool), almost all paper in history was thus
made of hemp and flax fibres.
The first Bible was printed on hemp paper,
and so were the first drafts of the Declaration
of Independence.
With the Industrial Revolution, the need
for paper started to exceed the available rag
supply. Even though hemp was the most traded
commodity in the world up to the 1830s,
shortage threatened the monopoly for hemp
and flax as papermaking fibres. This was the
eventual push for investors and industries to
develop new processes to be able to use the
world's most abundant (and free) source of
natural fibres, our forests.
Actually, only 5% of the world's paper is
made of annual plants such as hemp, flax,
Although there are thousands of non-wood
paper mills in the world, only a few of them use
hemp as a fibre source (Fig. 13.1). About ten
mills located in the western world (USA, UK,
France, Spain, Eastern Europe and Turkey)
use hemp to produce speciality papers.
The following papers can generally be
produced by especially long fibres such as
hemp, flax and cotton:
•
Cigarette paper
•
Filter paper (technical and scientific)
•
Coffee filter
•
Tea bags
•
Speciality non-wovens
•
Insulating papers (condensators)
•
Greaseproof papers
•
Security papers
•
The use of hemp is concentrated mainly on
bast fibres, while the woody core of the plant is
generally considered as waste. In the produc-
tion of cigarette paper, however, all the fibre in
the hemp stem is used.
Various speciality art papers
13.2
History of Hemp in Papermaking
The use of hemp fibre and paper dates back
more than 2000 years. In fact, it is believed
