Kenaf

Kenaf is a 4,000 year old plant, but it wasn’t until the 1940’s, when World War II stopped all imports from Asia, that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began to research it. The USDA chose kenaf from among 500 candidates as the most promising non-wood fiber for pulp and paper production in 1960.

The USDA picked kenaf because of its rapid growth, high yield, and exceptional papermaking characteristics. Kenaf reaches 12-18 feet in 150 days. It takes the southern pine 14-17 years to reach a harvestable size. Kenaf also yields more fiber per acre than the southern pine. It produces 5-10 tons of dry fiber per acre. That is 3-5 times as much as the southern pine. Kenaf fibers require less chemicals, heat, and time to pulp because thy are not as tough as wood pulp and contain 20% less lignin, a resin that binds the cellulose fibers in plants or trees together, than does the southern pine. Toxic chemicals such as chlorine are predominantly used to felinity

The stalk is made up of two distinctive fiber types. The outer fiber is called “bast.” It makes up 40% of the stalk’s dry weight. The refined bast fibers measure 2.6 mm and are similar to the best softwood fibers used to make paper. The whiter, inner fiber is called “core.” It makes up the other 60% of the stalk’s dry weight. These refined fibers measure .6 mm and are comparable to hardwood tree fibers, which are used in a widening range of paper products.

Kenaf has a significantly high ability to fix carbon dioxide, absorb nitrogen, phosphate, and heavy metals from the soil, and can be used for soil rehabilitation purposes. Kenaf is salt tolerant and is proving effective in water purification and pollution control and as a rapidly growing crop will utilize large amounts of water.

The whole kenaf plant is then processed in a mechanical fiber separator similar to a cotton gin. The separation of the two fibers allows for independent processing and provides raw materials for a growing number of products including paper, particle board, animas bedding and bioremediation aids.

Kenaf is harvested using a similar system to that of the cane harvesting system used in southern Louisiana. The kenaf crop i

Some topics in this essay:
AKS AKS, Agriculture USDA, Vision Paper, , Africa Asia, kenaf paper, War II, West Africa, southern pine, kenaf plant, vision paper, kenaf paper industry, stalk’s dry weight, paper industry, fibers measure, wood pulp, pulp paper, fiber acre, weight refined, dry weight refined,