2. Suitability of bamboo for pulp and paper

1. Introduction

10 Bamboo - Current and Future Prospects

sticks and joss paper) [3].

1.1. Socio-economic benefits of bamboo

Despite the global digital revolution and consequence to the variation in the global regional market shares with respect to the production capacity and consumption pattern, the pulp and paper industry has experienced dramatic growth in the recent years. The recent trend of packaging that is gaining consumer's attraction is the emergence of paper and paperboard packaging due to its effective solutions in food and beverages, healthcare, manufacturing, personal care and other industries [1]. The demand of innovative and convenient packaging features is synonymous to the changing lifestyle of people. Conversely, the growth of the pulp and paper industries has been hindered since the major raw material for pulp and paper manufacturing is wood, which is drastically depleting. The industries are saddled with various challenges from ecological protocols, energy consumption and economic survival; therefore, modified technologies that are environmentally benign and economically viable are being sought to enhance the survival of the industries through the twenty-first century and beyond. Various researchers have reported the replacement of wood with nonwood as the immediate panacea to the challenges in the pulp and paper industries. In the array of these non-woods is bamboo, which is a fast-growing monocotyledon plant found in temperate, subtropical and tropical areas with diverse groups of plant in the grass family with 75 genera and 1250 species of bamboo worldwide [2]. Conventionally, bamboo has gained commercial usage in the field of construction (poultry cages, shade blinds,), furniture and handicrafts (vegetable baskets, incense sticks, tooth picks, chopsticks, skewers, barbeque

Traditionally, being one of the oldest materials used worldwide with wide applicability, bamboo industry is a flourishing business especially at the small-scale level. Since the engine that drives the growth of any economy is the small-scale industries, bamboo business plays a very significant role in the overall growth of an economy. Statistics revealed that of all forests in the world, bamboos occupy approximately 36 million hectares at the rate of present expansion of 3.2% of total forest area [4]. Bamboo can be divided into four regions based on supply chain in various continents of the world and this include Asia-Pacific bamboo region (India, China, Indonesia, Myanmar and Malaysia) [5, 6], which contributes about 65% global supply of bamboo. This is closely followed by American bamboo region (North American and Latin American countries) which contributes about 28% and African bamboo region which contributes about 7% supply. Asia-Pacific bamboo region is expected to continue to dominate the global bamboo market both in terms of value and volume by 2027. Consequently, the cumulative average growth rate (CAGR) of bamboo is projected at 11.8% CAGR. Hence by the end of 2027, nearly three-fourth of global bamboo revenue will be accounted by the region [7]. This projection is based on the versatility of bamboo entrepreneurship, which ramifies wood and furniture (timber substitute, plywood, mat boards, flooring, furniture, outdoor decking), construction (scaffolding, housing, roads), food (bamboo shoots), pulp and paper, textile, agriculture, charcoal and handicrafts, regarded as being one of the key instruments in uplifting the Amid the collection of non-wood natural fibers, bamboo has gained wide applicability in pulp and paper industry. Several reports on the potential of bamboo revealed its potential as a better raw material for pulp and paper packaging because of its long fiber, since the fiber length is an important factor in paper making. The fiber length is similar with what is obtained in softwood fiber properties, hence making bamboo as an ideal replacement in pulp and paper manufacture. For instance, the fiber length has impacts on the physical and mechanical properties of paper such as tear strength and folding endurance. These spectra of properties make bamboo very economical in terms of management and can easily be transported to the pulp and paper mills [8].

The large lumen width and fiber diameter characteristic of bamboo contribute positively to the effective beating process [9]. Like other wood species bamboo fibers have many similar benefits than wood such as: (1) bamboo can be chipped in a similar manner to wood, (2) bamboo is a low-cost crop due to low maintenance, (3) bamboo chips can be blended with wood chips and (4) bamboo is a fast-growing fiber source. Almost all studies suggested that papers made from bamboo are relatively stronger than those made from softwood. Successful development of bamboo pulping requires a technology which is able to exploit the full potential of this raw material. Specifically, this means that selectivity in pulping and bleaching has to be on a high level resulting in pulps with high yield and good strength properties.
