Taiwan Today

Public-private research discovers new uses for the bamboo plant.

Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on earth. It has horizontal underground stems called rhizomes that supply energy to the vertical culms, which can be harvested without damaging or killing the main plant. Some species grow as much as 121 centimeters a day, and a bamboo forest can be ready for harvest after around four years. All these properties make it the perfect partner for sustainable products.

Entrepreneur Chen Cun-rong (陳村榮), based in the central county of Changhua, makes ingenious use of bamboo. In the mid-2000s he started selling powdered bamboo charcoal, a material that is believed to strengthen the immune system by emitting far infrared radiation. After a decade of research, Chen began producing bamboo salt in 2019, and the product now generates nearly all the revenue of his company, TaSakae Inc. Made through heating coarse salt in bamboo culms, the product may have health benefits as the salt absorbs minerals like calcium, magnesium and potassium from the thin film of the stem wall during processing.

Chen also found a circular economy use for stem remnants left over after cutting culms into suitable lengths: the waste material is turned into biomass fuel that powers equipment for making the salt. “Taiwan is rich in high-quality bamboo, so there’s huge potential for the industry to grow,” he said. Last year TaSakae was among 26 winners of the annual Golden Ship Awards for outstanding Taiwan enterprises selected by the General Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of China.

There are now many similar companies due in part to the influence of government-supported Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in the northern city of Hsinchu. According to Huang Ying-pin (黃盈賓), ITRI Central Region Campus manager in biomass materials technology, there were two waves of diversification in bamboo use over the past two decades. The first came after the 1999 earthquake that devastated Zhushan Township in central Taiwan’s Nantou County, home to a large cluster of bamboo-processing businesses. To revive the regional economy, the government decided to transition to bamboo charcoal production, which was achieved through ITRI’s introduction of techniques from Japan. The second wave was a drive for new products when demand for bamboo charcoal became saturated in the 2010s.

Technical Know-how
Kilns for producing bamboo charcoal were built in central Taiwan and other locations where businesses took up creation of the new product. One company that constructed kilns independently of ITRI was Yung Ting International Bamboo Co. in northern Taiwan’s Miaoli County. “Bamboo charcoal not only is good for health but has deodorizing and dehumidifying properties. It’s a great natural material with wide applications,” said Song Mei-fen (宋梅芬), manager of the company founded in 2003. One of the top firms in the sector, Yung Ting developed over 100 items ranging from textiles to toiletries that contain bamboo charcoal or bamboo vinegar, a byproduct of charcoal production that may inhibit bacterial infection and repel insects.
  As the charcoal sector plateaued in the early 2010s, ITRI began to encourage companies to explore further uses for bamboo and to utilize every part of the plant. Hong Yen-chu (洪彥楚) established Mr. Banboo in the central city of Taichung, where he makes eyeglasses with bamboo frames carved with mythological or religious motifs. “My works are distinctive because of the themes I incorporate—they’re pieces of wearable art,” Hong said. He finds that, compared with wood, bamboo is more flexible and easier to fit to facial contours.

To facilitate new development directions, ITRI organized a team of researchers and academics in 2017 to assist businesses with technical solutions and introduce them to equipment and component manufacturers. The institute set up Taiwan’s first website on the bamboo industry in 2018 as a platform for up-to-date R&D results, business listings and events.

Similarly, the Taiwan Eco-Material Industry Development Association (TEMIDA), which is supported by the Ministry of Agriculture’s (MOA) Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency (FANCA), consists of approximately 30 enterprises promoting bamboo products in line with government policy. “Compared with the timber industry, bamboo is under the radar. But there’s certainly potential for further development, particularly with the plant’s more powerful carbon sequestration,” said association head Lee Shih-chi (李士畦), who has a background in agriculture and circular economy.

Green Network
Lee publicizes opportunities in the industry, including by advising interior designers to cover ceilings with processed bamboo fiber, a technique developed by ITRI, instead of the more widely used calcium silicate board. He anticipates the revival of laminated bamboo as a durable building material and looks forward to future production with advanced equipment that ITRI plans to roll out later this year. In 2022 FANCA commissioned ITRI to select research units to help businesses overcome specific development barriers and create new sources of growth. In the past two years, 12 enterprises have benefited from the agency’s funding, including Mr. Banboo and Yung Ting. For the former, this resulted in a machine that combines bamboo and metal components more efficiently, while the latter was able to add bamboo vinegar-enhanced sunscreen as a product. With help from the MOA’s Agricultural Technology Research Institute, based in the northern city of Hsinchu, TaSakae created hair care products using bamboo salt and fermented rice.

Other beneficiaries include the Department of Automation Engineering and the Institute of Mechatronoptic Systems at Chienkuo Technology University in the central county of Changhua, which used the funding to enhance the bamboo salt production process. This year a third TaSakae project developing products with bamboo leaf extract, valued for its antioxidant properties, is in the running to receive funding. “ITRI evaluates research and optimizes processes, helping production become time and cost efficient,” Chen said.

The value of bamboo has risen greatly thanks to research focused on byproducts generated during various production processes. Through technical support from TEMIDA, bamboo charcoal producers belonging to Longci Farmers’ Association in the southern city Tainan have become better at trapping waste gases released during processing. Such technical upgrades not only reduce carbon emissions but increase the amount of bamboo vinegar collected.
  Chen is keen for other bamboo-processing businesses in Zhushan to use bamboo biomass fuel residues in the same way his company does to improve the circular economy. The establishment of a system for collecting the residues from local bamboo businesses is now under discussion. “They’re glad to have help getting rid of bamboo residue, as doing it on their own is expensive and takes up a lot of space,” Chen said, noting that up to 40 percent of fresh bamboo ultimately goes to waste.

Mr. Banboo, Yung Ting and TaSakae are a new wave of businesses that support growing bamboo, thereby enriching local green economies. “From bamboo charcoal to salt, the potential products and their applications have multiplied,” ITRI’s Huang said. “Bamboo is playing an increasing role in a sustainable future.”
 

Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw