From Bananas to Paper - yes!

Clever country's banana paper plan

While the technology was developed a number of years ago, the up scaling from small, cottage industry scale to a serious larger scale option has taken a lot of time and effort, but it now seems to have overcome the issues that have held back commercialisation.

Unusually, as South Australia does not grow bananas, a local company has invested close to $2 million in advanced automation technology to manufacture paper from banana tree trunks.

Papyrus Australia has spent ten years developing its banana tree trunk (BTT) processing technology, which is able to produce a range of board and paper products. Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange since April 2005, the company has great international potential because of the wide availability and sustainability of BTT. There are thought to be more than 10 million hectares of bananas plantations worldwide, where every BTT is left to rot after the fruit is harvested.

Papyrus banana paper developer engaged the services of Australian systems integrator, Sage Automation to develop a fully automated commercial manufacturing line that could be licensed around the world. The line was commissioned in late April at Papyrus’s Lonsdale plant and is highly accurate, according to Chief Operating Officer, Grant Pigot. “The Papyrus commercial line employs state-of-the-art control and integration technology, provided by Sage. The intent of this technology is to maximise accuracy and precision available to Papyrus during the process of production trials. This will allow Papyrus to model all required modes in which field versions of the commercial line would be required to operate,” Pigot has advised in a recent media release. Papyrus has received substantial interest in its system from companies around the world, including Brazil, Venezuela, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Australia and the Solomon Islands.

With such far reaching applications likely, the commercial line has been designed to be robust, reliable, reproducible and to allow communication and error checking procedures to be conducted remotely. Managing director of Sage Automation, Andrew Downs, explained how technology was used to meet the requirements of the system. “Papyrus wanted a machine that would be highly configurable and would provide a platform for future expansion and development of the process. Another important consideration was that machines may be located in remote locations throughout the world, making ease of installation and production support a critical issue,” Downs advised. Sage selected the Rockwell Automation Control Logix integrated platform utilising Ethernet HMIs, distributed I/O and 16 Kinetix 7000 servo axes.

This system provides a single portal for remote support and will allow monitoring the production process in real time. This type of approach has been seen now in a number of world class Australian systems across various technical areas, allowing remote monitoring and high quality support in areas where availability of on site technical staff may be difficult.

Not only is the raw material for Papyrus’ paper products sustainable, the manufacturing process is much more ecologically friendly than traditional paper-making methods. Papyrus’ manufacturing technique does not require the pulping of raw material, and thus uses considerably less power, Pigot explained:“The Papyrus technology essentially ‘unwraps’ the banana tree trunk like a roll of paper. The banana tree trunk is comprised of a coarse outer layer, from which the board products are derived, and a fine, inner core, from which the paper products are produced,” Pigot said. According to Pigot the patented process reduces production costs by 60% compared to pulping methods. The Lonsdale manufacturing system will serve as the principal research and development line for ongoing product development. Papyrus plans to build additional lines for international customers within twelve months.

Maybe banana growing will even become a suitable option for sequestering carbon!

www.papyrusaustralia.com.au is the site for more information.