How do you make paper mashie?

Is it feasible to use seaweed/algae to make paper?

• Since algae contains cellulose, is it possible to use the cellulose to make paper similar to modern paper from wood pulp? I saw several articles on the internet describing algae pape.  Some of them even say it is easier to make than wood paper.  Why aren't we using it?  Is the paper similar enough to traditional paper, and is it feasible to replace traditional paper?  Some algae like "Chaetomorpha" grow fast.  People could make a vat, pump it with sea water, and let the algae grow.

• Answer:

  I am not sure about chaetomorpha species but I will cover on Rhizoclonium and red seaweed Rhizoclonium      The following properties are based on optimized process by Kuo-Ping Chao, et. al. [Ref1] Refer to the reference for the process that was employed by the team. Note that only some properties are evaluated.      Generally, algal paper may have better processability particularly because it have no lignin content which allows it to use lower cooking temperature and time as well as lower chemical (alkali) usage (although with high water requirement). This is particularly true for lab-scale. No large scale process have been tested. While processability may favour algae-based paper, it however suffers from poor bursting strength, tearing strength and folding strengths. But you can mix the fibers with softwood fibers for better paper properties (comparable to Kraft paper).  This indicates that it could substitute mid-strength Kraft pulp.[Ref1]     No colour or optical property was evaluated. Meanwhile, large scale process would need to be tested to determine economicc feasibility.    See the following sections for more details. Processing performance Pulp yield - Defined as dry weight of pulp per dry weight of input. Chemical pulping (full-scale) of wood [Ref2]      - pulp yield    40-50%      - is the main pulping process for papermaking      - produces high-strength paper      - cooking temperature   180 degC      - cooking time     8 hours      - High-chemical charge (with residual recycle, possible treatment of sulfurous compound) Mechanical pulp (full-scale) of softwood conifers [Ref2]       - pulp yield of 95%.        - energy intensive       - good for printing paper but suffers discoloration issues. Chemical pulping (lab-scale) of Rhizoclonium (See Kuo-Ping Chao [Ref1]       - pulp yield >68%       - lignin free (affects cooking temperture and time and chemical charge)       - low cooking temperature (100 degC)       - short time (30-120 min)       - low chemical charge (residual can possibly be recycled without treatment of sulfurous compound) Paper mechanical strength Pure algae fiber (Grammage  80-83 g/m2) Breaking length 5.23 km Zero-span tensile strength 79.2 Nm g−1 Bursting index of 2.2 kpa m2 g−1 After blending with softwood pulp:- Tensile breaking length  8.40 km Tearing index 14.5 mN m2 g−1, Bursting index 6.42 kpa m2 g−1 Folding endurance to 4299 double folds Standard values for non-algae sources Source: http://www.paperonweb.com/paperpro.htm Red Seaweed I could only get the general detail for red seaweed paper. Based on the resource, it is claimed that paper production from red seaweed (compared to wood pulp) takes shorter time, lower cooking temperature, and uses less chemicals. When compared to wood fiber, red seaweed fibers are also finer, more uniform in length and smoother. Red seaweed also do not require the use of filler material. Red seaweed fiber are also very absorbent which makes it useful for application like baby diaper. Though no pilot scale or large scale production have been tested. Source: http://www.algaeindustrymagazine.com/making-paper-seaweed/ Others If you are also interested in low production quality seaweed-paper, here is a link for codium fragile http://paperslurry.com/2013/07/03/papermaking-with-atlantic-bioinvader-codium-fragile/ [Ref1] Kuo-Ping Chao, Yu-Chang Su, & Chung-Sing Chen, 2000, Feasibility of utilizing Rhizoclonium in pulping and papermaking, Journal of Applied Phycology, Vol 12, pg 53-62 [Ref2] http://www.ruraltech.org/projects/conversions/briggs_conversions/briggs_ch08/chapter08_combined.pdf