Biopulping of pineapple leaf fiber using ceriporiopsis subvermispora fungus and its characterization
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Date
2014
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Publisher
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Abstract
Environmental awareness and depletion of wood resources are among vital factors that motivate researchers to explore the potential of agro-based crops as an alternative source of fiber material in paper industries. Fibers from agro-based crops are available in abundance, low cost, and most importantly its biodegradability features, which referred as "ecofriendly" materials. However, conventional pulping process which employed numerous chemical substances has resulted in a number of adverse effects on the environment. Hence, the aims of this study were to biopulp the pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) via means of Ceriporiopsis subvermispora fungus and determining its effect towards the properties of PALF fiber and paper forms. The individual fibers were characterized having good tensile properties at 0.3% of fungus treatment and favourable structural properties as characterized by Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). It was also shown that the biopulped PALF paper achieved desirable tear index value, remarkable burst resistance and uniform morphological observations compared to the conventional chemical pulping method. On the contrary, for water absorption characteristic, the biopulped PALF paper exhibited a slight increment compared to paper produced from conventional chemical pulping. The paper making process was then optimized using design of experiment (DOE). The effects of temperature, pulping time and fungus concentration on the tear index of the PALF paper were successfully studied using response surface methodology (RSM). The DOE revealed that the pulping time had the most significant influence on the response. Optimum process conditions were obtained at pulping time of 3.15 weeks, temperature of 45°C and fungus concentration of 0.25 M which resulted in tear index of 2.485 Nm2/kg. In addition, the incorporation of corn steep liquor into the biopulping process was proven to stimulate the Ceriporiopsis subvermispora growth, thus reducing the biopulping time. However, there were no increment to the mechanical and physical properties of the PALF paper
Description
Thesis (PhD. (Polymer Engineering))
Keywords
Pulping—Environmental aspects, Pineapple, Plant biotechnology—Research