Hemp paper, properties and characteristics

Hello everyone! Today I’ll tell you what hemp paper is. Hemp paper was originally of very high quality: it has a high margin of safety
, which allows it to be used for printing banknotes, various expensive paper products, religious books and albums for artists.

Industrial hemp is used to produce elite grades of paper.

A little history

Of course, industrial hemp has long ceased to be a leading player in paper
industry and has failed to become a worthy rival to paper made from wood or its main competitors, straw, sugar beet pulp and bamboo. The main reason for the unpopularity of such paper is its economic unprofitability.

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In Europe, producers of paper and textiles from hemp appeared in the 14th century, much earlier than wood began to be used for these purposes. This confirms the statement that the Bible is printed on paper made from hemp.

Hemp paper of that time showed not only high quality, but also had an exorbitant price.

Hemp paper has long been considered an incredibly expensive commodity and factories for its production were often hostage to downtime due to a lack of raw materials.

The beginning of the production of cotton fabrics significantly reduced the quality of paper, but its cost also decreased significantly.

Breakthrough in paper production

A breakthrough in the paper industry occurred in 1800. Then, for the first time, an article was published with a detailed description of the technology for making paper from various plant materials.

Already in 1870, the industry acquired a more impressive scale. The main factor of the revolution was availability and low cost.

Even a huge number of shortcomings: yellowish color, loose structure, rapid absorption and бумага из конопли может поставляться в рулонах

low strength did not have a significant impact on its popularity.

Despite the huge number of shortcomings, due to the low cost, paper
made from wood still outperformed higher quality paper made from hemp. Later, some of the disadvantages of wood pulp paper were eliminated using chemical reactions. The best modern types of paper made from wood are no worse than ancient hemp paper.

Benefits of hemp paper

Despite its leading position in the wood and paper industry, its products have some disadvantages: they contribute to the deforestation and active destruction of large areas of forest.

Another disadvantage of paper made from wood is that the waste from its production is quite toxic and pollutes the environment.

Therefore, the question of finding cheaper alternative sources of raw materials for the paper industry has become very urgent.

Cheap
, hemp can be a safe and promising raw material for paper production. стебель показывает какие волокна получаются из конопли

Hemp seeds of industrial varieties are inexpensive and its seedlings are characterized by an active rate of development, which makes it an ideal raw material for making paper. In addition, its yield produces an average of about 15 tons of hemp per year per hectare, which is very similar to the fastest growing wood species.

The main advantage of hemp is that it does not require special care and is indifferent to pest attacks. Additionally, transporting and harvesting hemp is cheaper than the cost of cutting it down.

In 1938, a technical device for decorticating marijuana stems was created in America, but even during this period the “hemp tax” came into force, which significantly increased the cost of raw materials for the production of hemp paper and the process of its production became completely unprofitable.

All these factors together prevented hemp from revolutionizing the paper industry, despite the existence of a number of important prerequisites.