Unbleached and bleached soda pulps from oil palm empty fruit bunch fibres

摘要

Oil palm empty fruit bunch residues are produced daily at the palm oil mill. These residues are rich in lignocellulosic fibres which amount to more than 90%. Investigations were being carried out to evaluate the pulping, bleaching and papermaking characteristics of empty fruit bunch fibres. The extraction of fibres from the empty fruit bunch was done in a shredder machine and subsequently washed in hot water The fibres were then cut to between 2 and 3 cm prior to the pulping experiments. Pulping of the empty fruit bunch using 15% sodium hydroxide was carried out at 140℃ for one hour. The liquor to fibre ratio used was 4:1. The screened pulp yield obtained was around 40% and the Kappa number 48.6. Bleaching studies were carried using the DEDED sequence. There was an increase of 53 points ISO brightness with a bleached pulp yield of 86%. The paper strength properties obtained for the unbleached pulps were 41 Nm/ g tensile index, 3.2 kPam2/g burst index, 7.19 mNm2/g tear index and 43 foldings at 271 ml CSF. In comparison the bleached pulp at 241 ml CSF exhibited a tensile index of 46 Nm/g, 3.6 kPam2/g burst index, 8.8 mNm2/ g tear index and 54 number of folds. Thus based on the properties obtained soda pulps from empty fruit bunch can be used in admixture with OCC for the manufacture of industrial paper.