Natural fibres for paper and packaging

Abstract

Abstract At the end of the 20th century, the future of the paper was not very optimistic due to the development of numerical technologies. Even if some paper grades have suffered, others like packaging boards, tissue papers and speciality papers have good economic trends. Furthermore, the environmental policies contribute to the development of natural fibre based materials and also to reuse a maximum of materials. Another important point to take into account is the climate warming, the fossil resources depletion and the trade globalization. All of that leads to new potential resources in order to produce greener paper and board. This chapter highlights the origin of natural fibres which could be used in the pulp and paper business, describes briefly the pulping and papermaking processes including some aspects about the specificity of the use of annual plants and to presents some new challenges for papermakers.