PINEAPPLE LEAVES (ANANAS COMUSUS MERR) - A NON-WOOD FIBRE FOR PULP AND PAPER PRODUCTION

摘要

On a global scale, non-wood fibres are a minor part of raw material supply to paper and paperboard manufactures. Producing paper from non-wood fibres would help in reducing the need to procure pulpwood from natural forests and for large - scale plantations. In this study, the pulping potential of the pineapple leaves (ananas comusus merr) was evaluated by studying physical and mechanical properties, kraft pulp yield and fibre characteristics. Pineapple leaves and fibre from pineapple leaves were used as raw materials. They were cooked by normal conventional standard kraft pulping with various pulping condition to produce well-delignified pulps with yield 21 -30% and very good strength properties especially in relation to tensile strength. The non-woods fibres have lower lignin content compared to wood fibre and generally it is easier to delignify non-woods, as they have lower activation energies. The fibre length is on average 2.624-2.868mm long, 5.6836-6.8708 μm wide with 2.7356-3.0092 μm wall thicknesses. The fibre is very narrow and appears like a line. The results also indicated that viable pulp can be produced from pineapple leaves using 12% active alkaline, whereas 14% active alkaline for fibres from pineapple leaves by 3 1/2 hour cooking at 170℃.