The government may not be able to rescue the inflation-plagued paper industry, but the researchers at the Forest Research Institute, Kanpur, and Lucknow University’s biochemistry department have lent a ray of hope.
The prices of paper have risen sharply during the past few months due to short supply of raw materials like bamboo pulp and quality recyclable paper. The biochemistry departments of Lucknow University (LU) and the Research Institute at Kanpur have found a solution to both the problems.
The biochemistry department at LU has identified the gene found in the plants used for making paper, which adversely affects the quality and durability of the recyclable paper, while the Forest Institute has developed a new technology which will provide better quality and faster bamboo pulp harvest.
The department head, Professor UN Dwivedi told Business Standard that they had identified the gene responsible for gradual staining (turning yellowish) of paper and the experiments for developing its ‘transgenic’(a sort of antidote) has been successful. “This gene makes the substance called ‘lignin’ due to which the paper loses strength and turns yellowish gradually,” said Dwivedi.
The improvement is expected to increase the storage and shelf life of paper and reduce the loss incurred in storage. According to estimates, about 15 per cent of paper is wasted due to its relatively short shelf life. “We cannot stock good quality paper in advance as it starts turning yellowish and sub-standard on storing,” says Ajay Gupta, sales manager at a paper mill in Rae Bareilly.
Dwivedi says that the present chemical technologies used for minimising the lignin content of the paper are inefficient and consume more resources. “The waste generated is also hazardous to the environment, so bio-engineering is the effective and cleaner way out,” he added. The use of new technology would increase the availability of paper to some extent by increasing its durability.