Bamboo Processing Industry in China
After decades of development, China’s bamboo industry has developed rapidly and the output value increased rapidly. From 2007 to 2017, the output value of China’s bamboo industry increased from 50 billion yuan to 280 billion yuan. China’s bamboo industry is in a growth stage.
People pay more and more attention to the Chinese bamboo industry because of its huge economic value, ecological value and cultural value. The utilization of bamboo in the industrialization of China has broken through the tradition, showing a good trend of rapid development, high technological content and good ecological effects.
The development of high-tech bamboo-based panels, bamboo laminated wood panel furniture, bamboo pulp papermaking, and bamboo fiber development has made significant progress. The utilization and development of bamboo vinegar, and bamboo products are developing in high tech downstream processing. There are 12,756 bamboo processing enterprises in China, with an annual processing output value of several billion US dollars, and 101 processing enterprises with an output value of more than 100 million yuan.
Output
In 2019, China’s forestry industry achieved a total output value of 7.56 trillion yuan, and the import and export trade volume reached 160 billion US dollars. The output value of bamboo industry is close to 300 billion yuan. The China Bamboo Industry Association proposed that the output value of the bamboo industry will reach 1 trillion yuan in 2030. In 2050, the bamboo industry will reach the level of keeping pace with the forestry industry.
Sichuan, Fujian and Zhejiang have become the provinces with the highest bamboo output value in the country, and Sichuan Province has taken the lead in the country for the first time. China has more than 100 research results on bamboo at the national and provincial levels, and more than 450 bamboo products and patented technologies with independent intellectual property rights.
The Standard and Certification
The China Bamboo Industry Association has established a Standardization Technical Committee, and the standard mainly chooses the American standard system as the basis for reference.
The first is the bamboo test standard, which is drawn up with reference to the American Society for Materials (ASTM); the second is the bamboo laminated timber product standard and certification, which is with reference to the American Forest and Paper Association (APA) and the American Academy of Timber Construction (AITC) standards; the third is bamboo man-made Board product standards and certification are drawn up with reference to the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and Structural Board Alliance (SBA) standards. Fourth, the design specifications for bamboo structures are drawn up with reference to the NDS standard of the American Standards Institute.
Bamboo Products and Application
Bamboo Tableware
Disposable bamboo products and environmentally friendly tableware. China has developed into the world’s largest producer and consumer of bamboo fiber tableware. The products cover bamboo dinner plates, bamboo lunch boxes, bamboo knives and forks, bamboo straws, bamboo chopsticks, etc.
Because bamboo fiber has natural antibacterial and natural degradability functions, it is widely used to make bamboo environmentally friendly tableware. Bamboo tableware is made of bamboo strips, bamboo charcoal or bamboo fiber as raw materials. Bamboo tableware can be used directly in microwave ovens, ovens and refrigerators, and no toxic substances are deposited. This tableware can be naturally decomposed and absorbed by the soil after use. It can be recycled and broken down and used as fertilizer or made into egg trays and other products. Bamboo powder has also become one of the raw materials for the production of disposable bamboo products.
Bamboo powder has also become one of the raw materials for the production of disposable bamboo products. Bamboo powder can be processed into water cups, straws and other products, which is degradable and pollution-free. The biodegradable properties of bamboo powder products solve the problems of ordinary plastics that are difficult to degrade and cause heavy pollution; and solve the problems of general biodegradable materials that are heat-resistant, cold-resistant, low mechanical strength, difficult to apply, difficult to popularize, and expensive. It can replace ordinary plastic to produce disposable tableware, film bags, packaging materials and other products.
Black Diamond – Bamboo Charcoal
As a “black diamond”, bamboo charcoal has become more and more prominent in the current era of environmental protection and health. At present, more than 300 products in 9 series including bamboo charcoal adsorption, purification, health care, fiber, composite materials, handicrafts, cleansing and bamboo vinegar, and bamboo leachate (fresh bamboo leach) have been developed.
Bamboo-Wound Composite Products
Bamboo-wound composite products have become mature, and the materials will become another new type of bio-based composite material after basic materials such as steel, cement, metal, plastic, and wood.
As China’s emerging strategic industry, bamboo-wound composite materials have been included in China’s 13th “Five-Year Plan.” It has become a special industry for forestry industry planning strategy and a national key R&D and promotion project in China.
Especially the bamboo-wound composite products promoted by China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC), and some production bases have been put into construction and planning. Currently, bamboo-wound composite material technology is accelerating the industrialization of bamboo winding technology. It is a new type of bio-based material independently researched and developed by China with independent and complete intellectual property rights. It has the characteristics of renewable resources, light weight, high strength, flame retardant insulation, environmental protection, energy saving and low carbon. Its products can be widely used by transportation, municipal administration, water conservancy, construction and military industry and other fields.
Bamboo Steel
“Bamboo steel” is interestingly summarized in the industry as It looks like wood, and is used like steel, but it is actually bamboo. Through hot pressing, more than 10 cm thick bamboo sheets are pressed into high-strength board blanks ranging from 1 cm to 3 cm, and then sanded, and then cut, spliced, and reinforced according to the requirements of product design.
A piece of bamboo steel can withstand a pressure of 300 MPa, which is similar to the strength of glass fiber reinforced plastic, and is tougher than wood and steel, and can meet the design requirements of special-shaped structures. “Bamboo steel” material is a high-performance bamboo composite material that uses sinocalamus affinis as the raw material and is processed through advanced technologies such as directional separation, reorganization and compounding of bamboo fiber bundles.
Bamboo Vinegar
Bamboo vinegar is a liquid by-product obtained by burning bamboo charcoal. It has a unique smoky smell and its chemical composition is very complex. The main components are water, organic acids, phenols, ketones and alcohols. The uses of bamboo vinegar include pesticide synergists, soil conditioners, liquid fertilizers, feed additives and daily chemical products.
Pallet for Shipping Container
Bamboo pallet for shipping container. The pallet is an important part of the container and the main load-bearing accessories, because the floor will affect the safety and quality of cargo transportation, so it is also one of the focuses of people’s attention. The traditional pallet mainly adopts the 19-layer wood plywood with a thickness of 28mm made of tropical hard broad-leaved materials such as Apitong and Kerning from real estate in Indonesia and Malaysia. Due to the reduction of tropical hardwood resources in the world and the implementation of environmental protection measures, the raw materials used for the above-mentioned container pallets are restricted. Therefore, gradually adopting alternative materials and reducing the use of tropical hardwood will be an inevitable trend for the development of container pallets in the future.
The Chinese patented “A container pallet and its manufacturing method” uses the theory of orthotropic composite laminates and the design concept of equal strength failure, and combine the bamboo unit materials with excellent mechanical properties and ordinary pine or eucalyptus veneer according to the scientific structure, using phenolic resin as adhesive, and under certain temperature and pressure conditions, it is glued into a bamboo-wood composite pallet with a thickness of 28mm.
This new type of bamboo pallet not only has the characteristics of high bamboo strength, good rigidity, surface wear resistance, but also high flatness of the wood, small internal stress of the board, easy nailing and high nail holding force. The internal strength, elastic modulus and appearance properties of the product are better than those of the hardwood floor. The production cost is more than 15% lower than the traditional hardwood floor.
Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company, has conducted a four-year global operation tracking assessment for containers equipped with bamboo pallets. It believes that the loading safety and service life of the bamboo pallet can meet the target requirements and can completely replace the traditional tropical hardwood pallets that are used to make containers.
In 2015, there were more than 30 domestic container pallet manufacturers with an industry production capacity of about 2 million cubic meters, and industry output was about 1.5953 million cubic meters.
Bamboo Fiber
Bamboo fiber is the fifth largest natural fiber after cotton, hemp, wool and silk materials. Bamboo fiber is a relatively broad term, which includes three types : bamboo raw fiber, bamboo charcoal fiber and bamboo pulp fiber. The real bamboo fiber actually refers to the raw bamboo fiber, which is the bast fiber obtained from the bamboo stem, and is also called “natural bamboo fiber”.
It is reported that many countries and regions such as the United States, Canada, Japan, and the European Union have made it clear that only raw bamboo fiber products can be named bamboo fiber. The English name is Bamboo fiber or Natural bamboo fiber. The naturally produced bamboo wood is saw into the length required for production, and then mechanically and physically remove the lignin, poly pentose, bamboo powder, pectin and other impurities in the bamboo, and then directly separate the fiber from the bamboo wood.
The production process is roughly similar to that of hemp fiber, which is a completely natural green and environmentally friendly fiber. Raw bamboo fiber is very popular in the textile industry. Because bamboo fiber has good air permeability; it comes with antibacterial and mite removal effect, and it is not easy to mold; deodorant and UV resistant; green and natural; cool, soft and comfortable.
Bamboo fiber is now widely used in durable, breathable soft fabrics, used to make bedding, underwear, baby diapers, blankets, bath towels, hats and so on.
Chinese bamboo fiber manufacturers have systematically studied the method of bamboo fiber preparation, realized a new process for preparing bamboo fiber by mechanical and physical methods, developed a bamboo fiber oriented fiber making machine and continuous intelligent cooking equipment, and developed a large-scale plant. The complete set of technical equipment required for production realizes the mechanized continuous production of bamboo fibers with different functions.
Paper
The current production status of bamboo paper products in China belongs to the world’s advanced level. The annual output of existing large-scale enterprises has reached more than 200,000 tons, and is developing to an annual output of 1 million tons.
(The above information comes from Tencent.com, Toutiao.com, Sina.com, Bamboo Fiber Industry Network)
