Chemical-free thermomechanical pulping of empty fruit bunch and sugarcane bagasse

Abstract

The biomass resources oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) and sugarcane bagasse, which are residues from the palm oil and sugar industries, continue to be investigated for more applications. With increasing concern for the environment, cleaner production has been a worldwide aim of researchers. In this study, thermomechanical pulp (TMP) from EFB and sugarcane bagasse was prepared with disc refining after steam pretreatment of the raw materials. Afterwards, refining and handsheet properties of TMP using various percentages of unbleached soda bagasse pulp (USBP) were studied. Fiber characterizations and handsheet properties showed that pulp of acceptable quality was obtained via thermomechanical pulping. Moreover, energy consumption during PFI refining of EFB TMP was higher than that of bagasse TMP. Physical properties were further enhanced through introduction of USBP. The results firmly support the feasibility of cleaner thermomechanical pulping of EFB and sugarcane bagasse.

Optimization of sulfonated chemi-mechanical pulping of palm oil empty fruit bunch using response surface methodology

“…According to Table 1, it can be concluded that POEFB fibers suits paper production better than bagasse and rice straw for pulping and papermaking. The chemical composition of POEFB fibers is listed in Table 2, and the results are in accordance with Liu et al (2019). The cellulose content of POEFB is slightly lower than canola straw and bagasse, but higher than rice and wheat straw.…”

“…These conclusions could be also supported by the data of pulp yield in Table 4. Density has a noticeable impact on the physical properties of the paper, so it is also used as a basic parameter for comparing physical properties of paper (Liu et al 2019). As the SS is increased, the degree of sulfonation of lignin is increased, improving the hydrophilicity, flexibility, and adaptability of the fiber.…”