Studies on Iranian cultivated paulownia - a potential source of fibrous raw material for paper industry

In the present work, chemical and morphological characteristics of Iranian cultivated paulownia (Paulownia fortunei L.) fibers were investigated. Chemical properties including holocellulose (81.2%), alpha-cellulose (52.6%), lignin (24.6%) and extractives (1% NaOH 14.7%) contents were determined. Fiber length, width, width of lumen and cell wall thickness were 1002, 35.44, 26.49 and 6.47 A mu m, respectively. The paulownia wood contains a significant portion of parenchyma cells and vessel elements compared to the hardwoods being mainly fibrous. The short length and thin-walled fibers may be expected to give relatively dense papers which are weak in tearing strength, but are superior in burst and tensile properties. Paulownia has acceptable Runkel ratio and flexibility coefficient are in the range of hard and softwoods, respectively. In general, results based on chemical and morphological analysis indicated that Iranian cultivated paulownia fibers are promising fibrous raw material for the paper production.