Neem (Azadirachta indica) as alternative wood fiber source with environmental advantages medicinal properties for pulp paper Industries

摘要

As a number of Pulp and Paper manufacturing companies are having captive plantation of Eucalyptus tree for getting sufficient wood fibers in India as well as other Asian countries, a number of ecological problems are arising. Some of the important problems include very high water consumption by Eucalyptus trees as "eucalyptus plantations are always thirsty and the soil does not have the chance to retain humidity. Villagers have realized that eucalyptus ruins the soil". Neem (Azadirachta indica) wood has comparable fiber percentage and suitable characteristics for being used as fiber resource for paper industries. It can be used for forestation and captive plantation resulting in highly economical and environment condition improvement. As many parts of neem tree are beneficial so it can be opted for farming especially in arid zones. A number of industries are manufacturing neem based pesticides, pastes and other products. At the same time neem woods are beneficial for acidic soil as they decrease the acidity and increase the fertility of soil. In this paper a techno-economic analysis has been done for using neem wood in pulp manufacturing and paper making. Environment friendly and economically beneficial processes along with raw material analysis for pulp and paper industries have been studied.