The production of paper from sugarcane bagasse

Abstract

The paper industry worldwide always faced a problem on lack of raw material due to deforestation. The agriculture waste material can be an alternative raw material to produce paper. For this study, sugarcane bagasse was used as a raw material for making paper. Sugarcane bagasse was obtained from the stalls and a local sugar factory in Perlis. 3 types of characterization were done that are raw material, pulp and paper characterization. For raw material characterization, the bagasse was analyzed with Mastersizer, SEM and EDS. The EDS result show that the sugarcane bagasse contain C (90.22%), and Si (9.78 %) elements. Chemical pulping method was done using 2 different chemicals that are Kraft and Soda-Anthraquinone (Aq). For pulp characterization, Kappa Number, Alpha-cellulose content and Beta-cellulose content were analyzed. The results show that the Kappa Number for Kraft pulping (16.1) is higher compare to Soda-Aq pulping (12.4). From determination of Alpha-cellulose content, the result show that the cellulose content for Soda-Aq pulp (58.3 %) is higher than Kraft pulp (23.68 %). For paper analysis, brightness test, tearing test, burst index and SEM were done in order to characterize the paper. The result for brightness test shows that Kraft paper (43.5) is brighter than Soda-Aq paper (31.12) where as for tearing index (mNm2/g) for Kraft paper (1.59) is lower than Soda-Aq paper (3.35). For burst index, the Kraft paper (1.63 kN/g) shows lower result compared to Soda-Aq (2.55 kN/g) respectively. Therefore, the paper pulped with Soda-Aq shows the better result compared to paper pulped with Kraft reagent. Overall, sugarcane bagasse can produced paper comparable to other non-wood pulp such as rice husk and Kenaf.