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Residual Grade and Waste Abaca Fibers as Reinforcement for Packaging and Printing/Writing Papers from Recycled Fiber

Erlinda L. Mari*, Cesar O. Austria, Adela S. Torres, and Emmanuel P. Domingo

Department of Science and Technology (DOST)
Forest Products Research and Development Institute (FPRDI)
Los Baños, Laguna 4031 Philippines

*Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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ABSTRACT

Fiber dimensions of residual grade abaca (tow grade) and waste abaca fibers (tuxy and stripping wastes) were measured. The fibers were found extremely long with thin cell walls. Fiber slenderness or felting point, flexibility, Runkel, and Muhlsteph ratios all indicate suitability for papermaking. Soda-pulping of the fibers, tow, and Tx80Sw20 (i.e., tuxy and stripping waste fibers combined at 80:20) at NaOH charges of 8, 10, and 12%, yielded tow pulp twice greater than Tx80Sw20 pulp.  Beating evaluation of tow-grade fiber pulped at 8% NaOH and the corresponding handsheet tests showed that acceptable beating time is 15–30 min. The Tx80Sw20 blend, on the other hand, already had a low freeness of only 227 mL and thus needed no further beating. The pulps were used as reinforcement for the production of papers from recycled or secondary fibers. The 80:20 blends of tow and Tx80Sw20 pulps were used to replace 3–10% levels of old corrugated cartons (OCC) to produce packaging paper, or mixed office wastes (MOW) to produce printing/writing paper. Results of tests on the handsheets produced therefrom indicate significant improvement in strength properties, even at low levels of 3–5% of reinforcement.

 

INTRODUCTION

The global paper industry is estimated at US$300–500 billion. Being domestically oriented and importing considerably, the participation of the Philippines in the paper global value chain is very limited – buoyed mainly by abaca pulp export that reached its peak in 2014 with US$127 million in revenue (Daly et al. 2016).
Abaca pulp is utilized by the importing countries in the manufacture of tea bags, currency paper, and other specialty paper products. Meanwhile, local paper products are mostly 95–100% based on recycled fiber. Recycling lessens fiber quantity and quality (Kleinau 1993, Mari et al. 2011) due to breakage, decreased flexibility, hornification, and other changes (Hubbe et al. 2007). Some wood pulp is imported for use as reinforcement. None of the locally produced abaca pulp goes to local production of paper despite its superior qualities (Torres et al. 1997, Estudillo et al. 1998, Mari et al. 2015). This is primarily because export of both fibers and pulp has been the primary goal of the abaca producers, while the local papermakers have not been aggressive in pursuing use of abaca pulp due to its high cost. . . . . read more

 

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