Exploration of Unutilized Fast Growing Wood Species from Secondary Forest in Central Kalimantan: Study on the Fiber Characteristic and Wood Density

Abstract

Fast growing wood species has become more promising as alternative wood sources to solve the gap between wood demand and supply. In this study, we focus on their fiber characteristicsand the wood density to determine their potential utilization. Thirty fast growing species were taken from secondary forest at PT Sari BumiKusuma, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Several hardwood and softwood species, which are commonly used in pulp and paper industries, were used as a comparison.The result showed that these species are low to high density (0.18-0.86). It is interesting to note that the fiber lengths of the 5 wood species were greater than commonly hardwoods, and similar with fiberlengths of softwoods. The fibers of the woods have good runkle ratio and the flexibility values. There were 7 potential species to be used as alternative wood material for pulp and paper: Endospermumdiadenum, Dillenia sp., Adinandradumosa, Adinandra sp., Naucleajunghuhnii, Neonaucleagigantea and Ficusfulva.