Professor of Chungnam University, South Korea, developed into seaweed paper

Instead of using trees, papermaking using seagrass has been successfully developed. If this technology is applied to the paper industry, the cost of papermaking will be reduced by 30 to 40%, and it will also bring about various effects such as preventing environmental pollution.

Professor Xu Yingfan of the Department of Agricultural and Life Sciences at Chungnam University announced recently that it has successfully developed a technology that uses red algae to produce fiber instead of trees. Paper produced using this technique has higher performance than existing paper.

Red algae is a kind of seaweed whose surface color is red or orange. Laver, agaric, seagrass, and Pterocladia tenuis belong to this species.

The results of the study show that the papermaking technology using red algae such as agaricus does not require the use of the enormous energy and chemicals required by existing papermaking technology, and is a brand-new papermaking technology.

This kind of paper does not require any chemical process. It is a kind of product made of environmentally friendly materials and can be used in medical and food packaging. This kind of paper does not have any taste when burned, because the surface area is very wide and it can also be used to make flags, and its performance is superior.

Prof. Xu took into consideration the unique characteristics of this type of paper, so he decided not to participate in the competition in the general paper market, but to plan to enter the special paper market. Specifically for advanced military special paper market, expand market share, and then enter the ordinary paper market. Professor Xu said: "Our goal is to bring this paper to market share of 20-30% within 15 years."

When papermaking with red algae is used, not only fiber but also some substances are discharged. Professor Xu said that he can use these discharged materials to produce foods, natural pigments, packaging materials, paper-making medicines and pharmaceuticals.

In fact, Prof. Xu also used this technology to collaborate with Genosapiens Inc., a company specializing in the development of sophisticated drugs called 'Agarose' using DNA separation technology, to conduct industrialization development work.

At the same time, Professor Xu is still investigating red algae farming techniques used in papermaking.

Professor Xu said: “The paper made from red algae cultivation is very clean, its cost and price are only one-third of the original papermaking technology, and it has a strong price competitiveness. At present, the culture technology of red algae has entered the completion stage, and trials have been conducted. The results showed that artificially cultivated red algae can grow 7 to 30% per day."

Source: Hanzhong Science and Technology Information Window