EVALUATION OF THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF ORGANIC SOLID WASTE FOR USE IN THE PREPARATION OF PAPER

摘要

Paper production is supported mainly by the wood due to its high content of cellulose. However, alternative sources that discourage the use of this resource and promoteprotection of forests are currently sough. The cellulose is also present in plants that are part of human consumption and therefore organic waste could become raw material for papermaking. In Colombia more than 60% of waste that is generated is organic and very few are reused. This research focused on evaluating the content of cellulose in several solid organic waste. Other chemical properties as hemicellulose and lignin content, and physical properties such as density, humidity, among others, were also evaluated because these properties determine the process of paper production and are important to know the feasibility to use and the strategy to extract the cellulose. 21 solid waste were analyzed by laboratory tests based on the ASTM and TAPPI standards and it was found that 9 of these solids have high cellulose content. Taking in account all the other analyses, we concluded that various solid residues have high potential to be used in the production of paper. The use of solid waste could be a solution that promotes the protection of forests and it would become in an alternative for solid waste management in Colombia.