Yingyi Women Invent New Technology for Making Paper from Straw Pulp

British woman Reidstone is working hard to save some of the world’s forests. She has a novel technology—making paper from straw pulp. In the next 10 years, she will build a large number of such factories around the world.

At present, the wood we use is far greater than the forest itself. At the same time, a large number of agricultural byproducts such as wheat straw have not been used. "Using wheat straw can produce very good paper," said Redstone. "In China, non-wood pulp and paper mills account for 7% of the world's paper production capacity. But because of environmental pollution, the government shut down those small Paper mills."

Obtaining white pulp from brown fibers results in a waste water called black liquor, which contains harmful corrosive substances. Dealing with these toxic black liquors requires large equipment, which is difficult for small plants.

Ms. Reidstone, the director of the BioRegionalMiniMills Group, has developed a technology that can rapidly produce straw into pulp and recycle the energy and chemicals in the black liquor. The high-quality pulp produced by this technology is suitable for the production of printing paper and writing paper. The energy used is only half of the traditional methods, and the amount of chemical substances is relatively small, which has no harmful effect on the environment. Better still, this technology is profitable even in a very small area. It has commercial advantages and is not only more efficient but also cheaper. It enables many small factories to make continuous contributions to reducing the pressure on the global forest.