The ratio of non-cash payment in Japan has reached approximately 40%, which means that the trend toward “cashless” has accelerated. However, the number of banknotes in circulation is still increasing year by year, which is approximately 16 billion banknotes. On the other hand, many foreign countries are redesigning their banknotes at short intervals since there are much more counterfeit banknotes in their countries than those in Japan. Those foreign banknotes have highly eye-catching effective novel anticounterfeiting features, and even follow the concept of universal design. Considering these situations, a new series of Japan banknotes has been issued in July 2024, which aims to be more difficult to counterfeit and easier for everyone to use than the current banknotes. This paper introduces the design of new banknotes and their anticounterfeiting features.

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As environmental problems associated with the petroleum industry, such as global warming and microplastics, become more apparent, there is an urgent need to establish a process to produce new materials from biomass such as wood to replace petroleum products. We have discovered that wood and herbaceous plant biomass can be solubilized in simple organic acids such as formic acid under ultra-mild conditions below 50°C. In collaboration with Daicel Corporation, we have produced transparent films with tensile strength comparable to acrylic resin and opaque films with the texture of paper. New surface coating materials and strong mold were also developed. These new woody materials are produced without use of any synthetic polymers or adhesives. Formic acid is a natural product found in vegetables such as cucumbers, and is the organic acid with the simplest structure that can be synthesized by the reduction of carbon dioxide or the oxidation of methane. In addition to woody biomass, agricultural waste and bamboo can also be solubilized. Through the activities utilizing lignocellulosic biomass, we aim at establishing a sustainable society.

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In recent years, many manufacturers have focused on the development of eco-friendly products to solve environmental issues such as marine microplastics. Our developing product, Thermoplastic Cellulose Acetate Fiber, has marine biodegradability, which would be one of the solutions to solve the marine microplastics. In addition, since this fiber is produced by melt spinning, no harmful solvents are used, and we can design its fiber forms and conjugate with other resins to improve its performance. When this fiber is used for paper and nonwoven fabrics, it is expected to improve their thermoformability and antibacterial performance. We will continue to research and develop the possibility of this fiber for new applications.

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In recent years, there has been an urgent need to address environmental issues such as energy shortages and CO2 emissions. MAXIMYZE is one of the naturally derived enzyme preparations for papermaking, which can improve the strength of paper made from various cellulose fibers and promote fibrillation during beating without using synthetic paper strength enhancers. A reaction temperature of approximately 40°C is desirable for the reaction with cellulase, including MAXIMYZE. However MAXIMYZE was able to achieve strength improvement effects even at 15°C. We hope that the use of MAXIMYZE can contribute to addressing recent environmental issues such as energy shortages and carbon dioxide emissions, as well as labor shortages and rising costs.

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Lyocell is a 100% cellulosic fibre produced by a solvent spinning process. It is ideal for use in a wide range of textile, nonwoven and specialty paper applications because of its strength, absorbency, purity, durability and biodegradability. The cross-section of standard Lyocell fibers presents a distinctive circular shape. As a leading cellulosic fiber producers, Lenzing AG has developed lyocell fibers with non-circular cross section to enlarge new applications where different behaviors are required.

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Transparent sheet materials comprising wood-derived cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) are attracting attentions as sustainable structural materials due to their high mechanical strength. However, the sheet formation processes for the CNFs are drying of dilute CNF dispersions via vacuum filtration or solvent casting, and the thickness of the resulting CNF sheet is thin for structural applications. Here, this paper introduces a fabrication process of thick plate-like CNF materials by multilayer lamination of the thin CNF sheets. During lamination, the self-adhesive properties of the CNF were utilized for binding each CNF sheet, and thus the resulting laminates were fully CNF-based materials.

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In recent years, the production of washi has been declining, and there is concern that if this trend continues, it will become impossible to restore paper cultural properties. Therefore, Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties has been working to preserve the tradition of washi-making. In this report, we present an example of such activities to ensure a stable supply of Noriutsugi (Hydrangea paniculate), which is needed to obtain Neri. In addition, functional paper plays an important role in the conservation and restoration of cultural properties, but it is not widely known. In this paper, examples of functional paper used and needed in the field of conservation and restoration of cultural properties are presented.

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Plastics are used in many fields due to their excellent processability and relatively good mechanical, chemical and thermal insulation properties, plastics are used in a variety of fields and have become an indispensable material in our lives today. Although plastics have a short history, their development has been remarkable, and many types of plastics have been developed, enabling high functionality and mass production. On the other hand, the side effects of this rapid development have resulted in environmental problems such as plastic waste. This paper describes the status of environmental problems caused by plastics and introduces the efforts to effectively use waste plastics as resources, recycling methods, and environmental measures other than recycling to prevent the increase of plastic waste in the future.

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