Studies on the pulp and papermaking characteristics of some Indian non-woody fibrous raw materials. I.

Besides other multifarious problems like soaring environmental costs, high manufacturing costs and declining price of the end products, the Indian pulp and paper industry is facing an acute shortage of better quality of wood fibers. Due to various reasons, the Indian pulp and paper industry could not match its final products versus finished products in a globally competitive market. By investigating the unique morphological characteristics of some potential non-woody fibers that lie in the close vicinity of softwood and bamboo, products' quality can he improved up to the required standard of survival on the globally competitive markets. Out of three, two non-woody plants are native of South America and Australia, being available in plenty in all the states of India, by their adaptation to the Indian climatic conditions. Ipomea carnea, coming from South America, resembles Pinus kesia and Picca abies in lumen and fiber diameter. Although its fibers are short, it gives strong paper, due to the high collapsing index. Cannabis sativa, popularly known as "true hemp", has long bast fiber strands or ribbons that are extensively used for manufacturing of cigarette tissue, carbonising paper, automobile filters and capacitor tissue papers, etc. Sesbania aculeata - a leguminous plant from Australia resembling jute, helps nitrogen fixation and produces high quality bast fibers, which are also used as a mix blend for developing specialty papers. These potential non-woody plants are cheap, representing an annually renewable source of high-quality fibers that can be successfully grown in temperate and tropical climatic conditions, without requiring much attention. In the present communication, the morphological characteristics of Ipomea carnea, Cannabis sativa and Sesbania aculeata have been discussed, in order to develop high quality specialty papers; some other potential industrial applications of Ipomea carnea, Cannabis sativa and Sesbania aculeata are discussed, for their possible extended utilization in manufacturing high-quality cultural papers.