COMMERCIAL production of paper and building products from banana tree trunks at the joint Mount Uncle Grazing Company and Papyrus Australia plant at Walkamin on the Atherton Tableland has been delayed.
The joint facility on the Mount Uncle Grazing Company farm was to enhance the value-adding stream of Mount Uncle's 80-hectare Lady Finger banana plantation and become the showcase facility for Papyrus Australia by July this year.
Ramy Azer, managing director of Papyrus Australia, said the company had installed all plant equipment and machinery necessary to operate its Walkamin production facility but is experiencing delays relating to mechanical failures with the outer-trunk-cutting-blade mechanism contained in the Beta Veneer Unit (BVU).
"The BVU supplied by the independent contractor did not pass the agreed acceptance test. As a result of a dispute with the independent contractor, the company entered into an agreement to enable us to have access to the software and the automation system contained in the BVU," Mr Azer said.
His company hoped to implement its production and engineering plan to achieve continuous production at the Walkamin factory next month.
Rob Watkins, farm manager of the Mount Uncle Grazing Company said it was a new industry and a new facility so there was bound to be a few hiccups but a lot of benefits to growers through the Papyrus technology.
The technology utilises the previously mulched or discarded banana trunk to produce unique, high quality papers, veneers and building products. It uses little energy, no chemicals or extra water and as it is positioned on-farm, there are very low transport costs.
"The BVU gives the farmer an added income stream and the world a planet-friendly, renewable product range. Until now paper manufacture has worked on a short fibre length, whereas the Papyrus plant uses the extremely long fibres of the banana trunk, which stretch from the base to the leaves.
"The team has been working very hard with the team from Papyrus since August 2008 to bring this technology to the Tableland," Mr Watkins said.
While Papyrus has used prototypes of the technology in their Adelaide factory, the facility at Mount Uncle is a world first.
When up and running at full capacity this commercial model is capable of producing around 20,000 tonnes of product per annum from banana trunks as long as 1.5 metres in length.
"We're going to process our whole 80ha of lady finger variety trunks. They are a larger tree than the Cavendish variety (the other main commercial banana variety) but the Cavendish are also very suitable for processing," Mr Watkins said.
"When working to capacity Papyrus estimates this facility will be capable of processing around 500 acres of banana trunks a year."
A team from Papyrus moved from the Adelaide plant to on-farm production.
Having the plant so close to the farm means conditions are a lot rougher with dust, a wet season and just Mother Nature in general.
The trunks are also available for processing a lot quicker and have a lot more moisture content which gives an added challenge to their processing.
"We're going to stub our toes along the way, but learn from our mistakes and that is the really exciting part," Mr Watkins said.
The Aussie farmer has to be one of the toughest in the world but with everything that's happened this year, the Philippines import situation, the clearing moratorium we have to get everything we can out of a paddock and this is one way forward."
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