From: bmasel@igc.org (Ben Masel) Date: 8 Mar 92 03:30:00 GMT Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs Subject: Re: Book burning REPOSTING: The following two responses are abstracts of papers presented at the First European Conference on Industrial Uses for Agricultural Crops, held at Maastricht, The Netherlands last November. I hope to have the full papers soon, and will post when available. ben CHARACTERISATION AND PROCESSING OF ANNUAL CROPS (ESP. HEMP) FOR PULP AND PAPER MARIE-JOSE DE SMET AGROTECHNICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, ATO-DLO, HAAGSTEEG 6, 6700 AA WAGENINGEN (THE NETHERLANDS) Hemp is a nonwoody annual plant containing two types of cellulose fibers, of which one type originates from the bark, and the other from the wood part of the stem. These fibers have different physical properties and chemical composition. The long flexible bast fiber which occurs in high proportion has long been used for textiles and ropemaking. Both fibers can be used in the preparation of pulp, paper, and probably numerous other products. An important characteristic of the pulping of hemp compared to wood is the treatment neccessary to produce pulp is milder. These and other data have raised the possibility of new approaches to pulp manufacturing that overcome the serious environmental problems created by the pulp and paper industry and of developing energy efficient processes. The production of pulp and paper from hemp consists of various operations. Preliminary production steps are the seperation of bark and wood and if storage is required drying or ensiling. The numerous steps are: pulping, bleaching, waste-water treatment, and the basic operations in papermaking. All these tasks are being studied and optimized. The pulping process we have focused on are: thermomechanical and chemo- thermomechanical pulping, alkaline extraction, organosolv pulping, and biopulping. The results obtained are promising and indicate that pulp and paper can be prepared from hemp using clean processes and that substantial energy savings can be achieved. Different qualities of pulp and paper can be produce dependent on the pulping process. __________________________________________________ VARIATION OF HEMP (CANNABIS SATIVA) FOR STEM YIELD AND STEM QUALITY RELATED CHARACTERS E.P.M. De Meyer CPO, P.O.Box 16, 6700 Wageningen, The Netherlands The feasibility of the production of cellulose by means of the annual crop Cannabis Sativa is being studied in the Netherlands. This paper deals with one of the basic steps of the project, the establishment of a Cannabis collection and the characterisation of the populations with respect to yield and quality. Until now varieties of domesticated Cannabis are selected for the production of either phloem fibers or narcotic resin. Both groups are represented in the collection, as well as a third group consisting of spontaneous populations. The complete collection contains about 160 more or less distinctive populations. After evaluation, selected populations will be used in a breeding programme. The dry matter production of cannabis plants depends primarily on the legnth of the inductive photoperiod which determines the duration of the vegetative period at a certain latitude. The harvest index - the fraction of the main stems of the total dry matter - depends on plant habit traits like degree of branching and internode legnth. A summary of the variation for vegetative growth will be presented in relation to stem growth parameters as measured in a field experiment. The optimal quality properties of cellulose pulp varieties of Cannabis are still under study but it is already clear that the available fiber varieties only partially meet the requirements. Alternative sources of raw materials for paper pulp production are usually compared with the main source at present which is conifer wood. A comparison of Cannabis fiber dimensions and conifer wood dimensions will be presented. Only the fraction of secondary phloem fibers is similar to conifer fibers. Almost no variation has been detected for the length of the relatively short wood fibers of Cannabis, which hampers attempts to improve the quality of the xylem fraction by means of breeding. The phloem fibers are considered to be the most valuable components of the stem. A quick method to estimate phloem fiber content was developed and results of the evaluation of the collection with respect to fiber content will be presented. Also a method to estimate the amount of primary and secondary fibers within the total fraction of phloem fibers will be discussed. ------------------------------------------------------------ Ben Masel, Director WI NORML bmasel@igc.org 608-257-5456 911 Williamson St, Madison WI 53703 i didn't put politics in the gutter, i found it there. ------------------------------------------------------------ ============================================================================= In the early part of the 1900s the US Farm Bureau had a department for fiber investigations. One report is as follows: In the literature of the fiber producing plants of the world the word hemp appears frequently, applied oftentimes to fibers that are widely distinct from each other. The word is usually employed with a prefix, even when the true hemp is meant, as manila hemp, sisal hemp, Russian hemp, etc. In this article will be considered the hemp plant proper, the Cannabis Sativa of the botanists, which has been so generally cultivated the world over as a cordage fiber that the value of all other fibers as to strength and durability is estimated by it. The Sanskrit name of the plant is bhanga; in Hindostan it is called ganja; the Arab name is kinnub, from which, doubtless, its Latin name cannabis, is derived; in Persia it is known as bung, while in China it is chu ts-ao, and in Japan, asa. Its native home is India and Persia, but it is in general cultivation in many parts of the world, both in temperate and more tropical climes, though only in Russia and Poland in large quantities for export. French hemp is much valued, but the finest quality comes from Italy, and is fine, soft, light colored, and strong. Hemp, though grown throughout India, is little cultivated for its fiber, although Bombay grown hemp "was proved to be superior to Russian." Hemp is largely grown in Japan for the manufacture of cloth. This industry is very old, as prior to the introduction of silk weaving it was the only textile fabric of the country. Its cultivation is an established industry in the United States, Kentucky, Missouri, and Illinois being the chief sources of supply, though the culture has extended as far north as Minnesota and as far south as the Mississippi Delta, while California has only recently become interested in its growth. Formerly large areas were devoted to the cultivation of the plant in the United States, and thirty five years ago nearly 40,000 tons of hemp was produced in Kentucky alone, while now the figure has diminished due to imports of Philippine manila and jute. Kentucky hemp is used successfully not only for rigging of vessels and for twines and yarns and bagging, but it is also spun and woven into cloth, just as today it is manufactured into fabrics in portions of Brittany. Soil Selection As in Brittany, so in Kentucky, limestone soils, or the alluvial soils such as are found in the river bottoms, are best adapted to this plant. The culture, therefore, is quite general along the smaller streams of Brittany, where the climate is mild and the atmosphere humid. In Kentucky the best lands only are chosen for hemp, and the most favorable results are obtained where there is an underlying bed of blue limestone. In certain portions of the State, Shelby County for example, it is claimed that a finer and tougher fiber is produced than in other sections, and this is thought to be due to a mixture in the soil of a whitish, oily clay. As a general rule, however, light or dry soils or heavy, tenacious soils are most unfavorable. Hemp is not an exhaustive crop. A recent report states that in Kentucky a grower in virgin soil sown to hemp can be followed with this crop for fifteen to twenty years successively; sown then to small grain and clover, it can be grown every third year, without fertilizers, almost indefinitely. In New York, it is customary to apply barnyard manures as there it is considered essential to put the soil in good fertility to make a successful crop. -- Capt. Kirk: let's head for that planet, third from the sun, it looks promising.... |-)