The most important anatomical characteristics in paper’s components identification

Paper’s components identification is important for pulp and paper mills and many organizations. In the present study we tried to identify paper fibers and introduce the most important anatomical characteristics which are effective in identification. First anatomical characteristics of wood and non-wood species which are important in pulp and paper industry were investigated. Then the papers of 3 important paper mills in Iran (totally 5 different papers) which their raw material include forest species, imported pulp and waste paper were sampled and examined. Many slides have been prepared according to ISO 9184-1 (ISO 1990) standard and valuable Atlases useful for identification of exotic species were reviewed. At the end important anatomical characteristics were recorded. Results showed that the fiber identification of papers is feasible. For softwoods identification, cross-field pits and for hardwoods, vessel shape, including, spiral thickening, perforation plate, inter-vessel pits and especially ray- vessels pits are the most crucial features for identification. Parenchyma, fiber biometric properties and fiber shape, in most species were similar and least effective in identification process. Epidermal cells, parenchyma and vessels were the most important anatomical feature for identification of non-woods.