PAPER making! g! FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF PAPER TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL ® Volume 12, Number 1, 2026
PULP & PULPING “Use of Agricultural Wastes in Pulp and Paper Industry”, Unnati Chaudhary, Akash Dev, Gyanesh Joshi, Vikas Rana, chapter in Sustainable Solutions for Agricultural Waste , CRC Press, 2026. Industrialization and urbanization are major contributors to the degradation of environmental quality and the depletion of natural resources. Traditionally, the pulp and paper industry has depended heavily on forest-based materials for its growth. However, a shortage of these raw materials and stricter environmental regulations and policies have forced the industry to explore alternative sources. The sector is currently grappling with a persistent shortage of traditional fibrous raw materials as demand for products continues to rise. In response, extensive research has been directed toward identifying alternative fiber sources. Agricultural residues have emerged as a valuable resource in this pursuit. While the use of non-wood fibers for pulp and paper production has historically been concentrated in countries with limited wood supplies, it is now gaining attraction even in regions with ample wood resources due to growing environmental concerns. The utilization of agricultural residues for pulp and paper making offers significant social, economic, and environmental benefits, making it an increasingly attractive option for sustainable pulp and paper production. RECYCLING “Upcycling Recovered Paper into Microcrystalline Cellulose and Nanocellulose: A Focus on Office Waste Paper and Old Corrugated Containers”, Atikarn Kraichok, Kamonwan Pacaphol & Kuntinee Suvarnakich, Waste and Biomass Valorization , online publication Aug. 2025. Papermaking from recovered pulp lowers paper quality due to fiber length reduction and hornification, yet recovered paper still contains high cellulose content suitable for upcycling into value-added cellulose products. However, purification is challenging due to foreign matter. This research upcycled office waste paper and old corrugated containers into microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and later produced cellulose nanofibers (CNF) from the optimal MCC. Key factors studied included repulping conditions, acid hydrolysis times, and high-pressure homogenization cycles to minimize energy consumption. Optimal repulping at 5% NaOH based on paper weight at 50°C for 120min and acid hydrolysis with 40wt% H 2 SO 4 at 40°C for 60min yielded MCC with high crystallinity, good brightness, and whiteness from office waste paper. CNF with an average diameter of 45nm was successfully derived from this MCC using 20-cycle high-pressure homogenization. Its suspension and film obtained exhibited good transparency with a white color slightly tinged with yellow. These findings indicate that office waste paper is a viable raw material for producing MCC and CNF, which have potential applications in the plastic and paper industries. TESTING “Machine learning-assisted spectrometric method for pulp extractive analysis based on model pulps”, Julia Chrząstowska, Tomasz Sokalski, Ekaterina Korotkova, Johan Bobacka, Anna Sundberg and Chunlin Xu, Holzforschung , Vol.79(9), 2025, 453–464. Extractives in wood, despite being vital in plant survival in adverse environmental conditions, can cause issues in pulping and papermaking, leading to significant financial losses within the forest industry. Conventional analysis is time consuming due to the challenging sample preparation, data interpretation and complex nature of extractives. There is a clear need for the development of a quick, non-destructive method for on-line pulp extractives monitoring. In this work, a machine learning-supported procedure for classification and prediction of extractives based on near infrared (NIR) and Raman spectroscopies was proposed. To avoid the influence of many variables, the method was developed and validated using a model compound approach, where cellulose was spiked with model extractives compounds.
Technical Abstracts
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