Source: UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA submitted to
AGRONOMY OF HESPERALOE SPECIES - DOMESTIC SOURCES OF HIGH-VALUE SPECIALTY FIBERS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0196409
Grant No.
2003-38625-13229
Project No.
ARZT-332630-G-60-516
Proposal No.
2004-06309
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
JZ
Project Start Date
Jul 1, 2003
Project End Date
Jun 30, 2006
Grant Year
2004
Project Director
McLaughlin, S.
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
888 N EUCLID AVE
TUCSON,AZ 85719-4824
Performing Department
OFFICE OF ARID LANDS STUDIES
Non Technical Summary
Water scarcity limits crop production in arid lands. Alternatives to softwood pulp can reduce harvesting of old-growth forests. This project aims to develop Hesperaloe as a new paper-making fiber crop with high-water use efficiency and fibers technically equivalent or superior to those of softwoods.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
50%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
5110660202030%
5111799106015%
5111799114010%
5112220118025%
5115310202020%
Goals / Objectives
This project addresses the development of fibers from Hesperaloe species (Agavaceae), and other potentially valuable products from other arid-land plants. The specific objectives are: (1) develop paper products using hesperaloe fibers, in cooperation with public and private sector partners; (2) improve machinery for harvesting and processing hesperaloe; (3) determine biomass production, water use, and fertilizer requirement during the first and subsequent cycles of growth in hesperaloe; (4) evaluate improved methods of stand establishment of hesperaloe; (5) discovery and development of anti-cancer products from other arid-land plants; and (6) development and evaluation of aeroponic systems for production of natural products from roots of medicinal plants.
Project Methods
We will subcontract with partners in the pulp and paper industry to develop commercial-scale quantities of an ultra-light-weight coated paper from a blend of hesperaloe and aspen pulps. We will also be working with potential end users on developing markets for the paper. Agricultural engineering efforts will focus on modifying existing agricultural machinery to pick up cut leaves from fields and feed them directly into a chopper, with the objective or reducing manual labor as much as possible. Agronomic studies will evaluate water requirements of regrowing stands through seasonal soil-moisture monitoring and determine nitrogen requirements through periodic soil and leaf sampling. Biomass production will be monitored through non-destructive sampling at the end of the 2003 growing season. We are comparing double-transplants as a method of increasing initial yields or reducing time to initial harvest. Anti-cancer agents are being evaluated through bioassay-directed fractionation and purification of active compounds. Aeroponic studies will concentrate on medicinal species for which (a) the roots are used, (b) there are potential markets, and (c) wild populations are insufficient to meet market/user demands.

Progress 07/01/03 to 06/30/06

Outputs
Most new-crop projects have concentrated their efforts on development of a niche market as the first step toward commercialization. For Hesperaloe, we have been concentrating on developing and marketing an ultra-light-weight coated (ULWC) paper using Hesperaloe fibers and post-consumer waste, primarily old newspaper. Because of the superior strength of Hesperaloe, it should be technically feasible to produce a paper with lower basis weight than currently available coated papers. The potential niche market is producers of catalogs, newsletters, and magazines delivered through the mail: lower basis weight lowers the cost of postage. Replacing virgin softwood kraft would also give Hesperaloe an advantage with customers who place a value on environmentally friendly products. Two such customers have expressed strong interest in a Hesperaloe-based ULWC paper. We have yet to have success, however, in producing high-quality pulp in a commercial facility. We have worked with a pulp mill in Scotland and one in the Czech Republic, both of which specialize in nonwood pulps. The Scotland mill was unable to produce a shive-free pulp after trying several pulping techniques and screening procedures. Shives are small pieces of non-fibrous plant material which are not dissolved with the mild hydroxide pulping process we had hoped to use; shives greatly reduce the strength of the pulp. The Czech mill was able to produce a pulp without shives using a soda process, but its strength was unexpectedly low. We are currently working with a pilot-scale lab in Quebec to try to discover the reasons for the low pulp strength in pulp from the Czech mill. This same Quebec lab did successfully make an ultra-light-weight calendared paper on the pilot-scale machine; the lab does not have a coating machine. At the University of Arizona, we have had limited success in reducing the costs of harvesting the fiber, which include drying and bailing for shipment to off-site pulp mills. Ultimately, for Hesperaloe to be successful it will probably be necessary to develop a small-scale pulping process and facility located close to the growing area. Leaves could then be harvested, chipped, and trucked directly to the digester, thus greatly lowering harvest and production costs. Several plant extracts active in biological assays for inhibition of cancer cell migration and proliferation/survival were subjected to bioactivity-guided fractionation and a variety of small molecule natural products with potential anticancer activity have been isolated and characterized. Winter cherry (Withania somnifera), grown aeroponically from seeds of Indian origin was found to contain the anticancer active compound withaferin-A as the major metabolite suggesting that this process can be used to obtain a reasonable quantity of this compound for further biological evaluation.

Impacts
With successful development of pulp and paper products, Hesperaloe can become an alternative low-water use crop for Arizona growers. Economic factors will favor the development of a pulping facility near the production area, providing additional potential economic benefits to the area. Local production of a high-strength alternative to softwood Kraft pulp could provide opportunities for use of locally-generated recycled papers in the manufacture of paper products.

Publications

  • No publications reported this period


Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05

Outputs
This project focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of valuable natural products from desert plants, with an emphasis on the high-strength fibers from hesperaloe. This plant has exceptionally high water-use efficiency and high productivity in arid climates; its fibers can be used in paper making and have strength properties superior to all currently used plant fibers, including those from virgin softwoods. Efforts in 2005 were concentrated on pilot scale pulping and paper making in private-sector facilities, and continued development of harvesting and processing equipment at the University of Arizona Maricopa Agricultural Center. Commercial pulping trials at the Ahlstrom Chirnside Mill in the UK were successful in producing a high strength pulp, but this mill was ultimately not successful in producing a pulp free of shives, unprocessed fragments of the leaf. Shive removal has been a major technical barrier. A pulping trial was conducted at another mill in Olsany, Czech Republic. This latter mill used a pulping process which does removes shives, but results in a very dark pulp requiring chlorine bleaching to raise its brightness. Several rolls of paper composed of 15% hesperaloe and 85% deinked recycled newsprint were successfully made at a laboratory in Quebec, Canada. Target basis weights of 40 to 45 grams per square meter were achieved. This may ultimately prove to be the highest value for hesperaloe fiber, as a strengthening agent for recycled newsprint. One potential end user for the ultra-light-weight paper we are trying to produce, Patagonia, could not commit to purchasing paper. The University of Arizona private sector partner, Arbokem, is currently holding discussions with other potential end users, including another catalog company and an environmental organization. Other objectives of the project focused on discovery and characterization of desert plants producing compounds with anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory activity. Several plant species with high activity in the targeted anti-cancer bioassay were identified and bulk recollections were obtained. A sample of plants for the anti-inflammatory work was obtained, including several species used by Native Americans to treat inflammation-related ailments; these have all been extracted and work on the bioassays has begun. With the recent removal of several anti-inflammatory drugs from the market, this work has the potential to identify new leads for safer compounds with COX-2 specific activity. It is increasingly recognized that biochemical pathways in the development of cancer and the inflammation response are related.

Impacts
With successful development of pulp and paper products, Hesperaloe can become an alternative low-water use crop for Arizona growers. Economic factors will favor the development of a pulping facility near the production area, providing additional potential economic benefits to the area. Local production of a high-strength alternative to softwood Kraft pulp could provide opportunities for use of locally-generated recycled papers in the manufacture of paper products.

Publications

  • Jiang, H., Z. Xie, H. J. Koo, S. P. McLaughlin, B. N. Timmermann, and D. R. Gang. 2005. Metabolic profiling and phylogenetic analysis of medicinal Zingiber species: tools for authentication of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.). Phytochemistry, published on-line 5 October 2005.


Progress 01/01/04 to 12/31/04

Outputs
Effort on this project during 2004 concentrated on our attempts at commercial-scale pulping and paper making. Working with Arbokem, Inc., of Vancouver, Canada, arrangements were made to produce approximately 20 metric tons of pulp at a mill owned by Ahlstrom in Chirnside UK. This mill is dedicated to producing pulp from abaca, another nonwood long fiber plant, and thus is probably the most appropriate facility for working with Hesperaloe fiber. The first trial was not successful; shives remained in the pulp clogging both the vibrating and basket screens. Shives, uncooked nonfiber plant tissues, have always posed the major technological barrier to processing of Hesperaloe fiber. The pulp yield was low and the pulp was not of acceptable quality. Arbokem recommended changes to the chemical charge during the cooking phase, and changes to the post-cooking refining. The second trial used a charge of higher alkalinity and inserted a deflaker between vibrating and basket screens. A pulp of much higher quality was produced, but still with a low yield. A commercial paper mill in Quebec, Canada, had tentatively agreed to use the Ahlstrom-produced pulp to manufacture a proto-type light-weight coated-paper. This mill decided not to participate, and Arbokem is currently negotiating with additional paper mills along with potential end users of the paper. On other project objectives, significant progress was made on our study of southwestern plants with potential anti-inflammatory activity. Approximately 200 plant collections were made, representing plants used for inflammation-related illness by Native Americans, plants related to taxa with previously demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity, and a broad-based random sample of plants. All collections have been dried, ground, and are currently being extracted. Construction of twelve new experimental boxes for our studies on aeroponic production of plants was completed. We were not able to successfully propagate the two targeted species for experimentation in the aeroponic systems, the important herbal root plants osha and matarique.

Impacts
Successful development of Hesperaloe as a paper-making fiber would provide Arizona growers with a specialty crop alternative with low water requirements. Potential markets include ultra-light-weight coated papers for magazines and catalogs, and recycled papers. Discovery and development of novel natural products and production systems is expected to provide small-scale producers with alternative high-value products.

Publications

  • No publications reported this period


Progress 01/01/03 to 12/31/03

Outputs
The objectives of this project are to commercialize hesperaloe as a source of high-strength paper-making fibers, and to discover and develop other new natural products and production systems with commercial potential from additional arid-land plants. Tentative private-sector partners have been identified to make paper blends using hesperaloe pulp and to market the paper but we are still looking for a pulper to work with. Biomass yields were determined in the water-application study, which had received its first harvest 2.5 years previously (in August 2001). There were no significant differences in the three highest water-application treatments, all of which now equal or exceed the highest yields obtained at the first harvest. We determined standing crops in our demonstration farm in January 2004; this 15-ha field now averages 160 Mg/ha fresh weight. This is sufficient to provide approximately 700 Mg of oven-dry fiber for precommercial trials. The comparison of 'double' and 'single' transplants continues to show promise as a method of increasing productivity in the first harvest cycle; transplants established from a single seedling now average 2100 g (fresh weight) compared to transplants established from two seedlings which average 4600 g (fresh weight). Research on novel natural products continued its focus on bioassay-directed fractionation of species with anti-cancer activity. For our aeroponics-production objective we focused on two important medicinal plants from the southwest, roots of both of which are sold in local markets and are reported to be subject to unsustainable harvest pressure from the wild. Initial trials with producing these two species (Ligusticum porteri and Psacalium decompositum) in aerponic production have not been successful and are we are continuing to experiment with modification of growing conditions.

Impacts
Successful development of Hesperaloe as a paper-making fiber would provide Arizona growers with a specialty crop alternative with low water requirements. Potential markets include ultra-light-weight coated papers for magazines and catalogs, and recycled papers. Discovery and development of novel natural products and production systems is expected to provide small-scale producers with alternative high-value products.

Publications

  • Coates, W. 2002. Decortication of Hesperaloe leaves. Applied Engineering in Agriculture 18 (6): 673-675.
  • McLaughlin, S. P. 2003. Removing flower stalks increases leaf biomass production in Hesperaloe funifera (Agavaceae). Journal of Arid Environments 55: 143-149.
  • Nelson, J. M., and S. P. McLaughlin. 2003. Hesperaloe water requirement and management for biomass production. Industrial Crops and Products 17: 93-101.