Parchment-Like Paper Using Water Hyacinth Pulp
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Philippine Journal of Science 141 (2): 179-185, December 2012 ISSN 0031 - 7683 Date Received: 20 Sept 2011 Parchment-Like Paper Using Water Hyacinth Pulp Erlinda L. Mari Forest Products Research and Development Institute Department of Science and Technology College, Laguna Water hyacinth pulps, obtained by open-vessel cooking of fresh, air-dried, and ground water hyacinth stems, were mixed with abaca and wastepaper pulps to form handsheets. The handsheets had natural glaze and those from pure hyacinth pulps were fairly translucent, with Cobb values of 38-40 g/m2 that compare well with commercial parchment paper. Compared with either pure abaca or pure wastepaper pulp, replacement with water hyacinth pulp by 25 to 75% significantly improved burst index and tensile index, suggesting better formation and bonding of fibers. Inversely, however, any amount of the soft and short-fibered hyacinth pulp with either pulp reduced tear index, understandably because this property is dependent more on fiber length. With wastepaper pulp, water hyacinth pulp improves the tensile property to a level comparable with that of paper from abaca pulp as well as parchment paper. Key Words: Cobb values, fiber formation, tensile index INTRODUCTION Interestingly, water hyacinth is already widely used in handmade papermaking (HMP) in Kenya (http:// Local studies on the pulp and papermaking potential of www.unep.org/roa 2008) and Bangladesh (http:// water hyacinth conducted in the late seventies (Zerrudo www. Bangladesh.com/ 2008) and is also becoming an et al. 1978, 1979) followed the conventional method alternative fiber material for HMP in some regions of the of pulping at high temperature and pressure using Philippines where it is abundant. steam-heated closed digesters. Results of these studies concluded that depithed water hyacinth stalks may be HMP makes use of different non-wood fibers, such as pulped satisfactorily by any conventional process but abaca, cogon, banana fiber, which are pulped by cooking the low pulp yields and low initial freeness of the pulp in open vessels under open-fire, unlike the steam-heated negate its use for ordinary paper. However, the high water closed digester method of cooking. Considering that resistance, non-porous, and oil-proof properties of the water hyacinth is similar to these non-wood fibers, its paper produced suggest that water hyacinth pulps may be abundance and the reported water resistance of its pulp used for specialty papers such as the parchment type of is an encouragement for its use particularly for special papers. Much earlier references cited by the authors also or high end HMP, such as for parchment, lamp shades, mention similar results. or special packaging. This should compensate for the very low dry solid content (about 5 %, green basis) that The cooking method used, however, is capital intensive discourages serious consideration. and energy consuming for a material with very low dry solid content of only about 5 %. The use of water hyacinth Problems arising in the use of water hyacinth need to be for pulp and papermaking, thus, did not prosper this way. addressed, however. When used as fresh, the material is very bulky that a 200-L drum usually used for cooking can accommodate only a fraction of the usual load of dry fibers. *Corresponding author: [email protected] 179 Philippine Journal of Science Mari EL: Parchment Paper from Water Hyacinth Vol. 141 No. 2, December 2012 Thus, air-drying prior to cooking would be advantageous; but Preparation of handsheets this would require large space and additional time for drying. Moisture contents of the pulps were determined to Moreover, water hyacinth material, even when dried, cannot calculate the respective oven-dry mass. The three pulp be stored for a long time because it is easily attacked by fungi. materials were then mixed at the following proportions on oven-dry basis: Incidentally, in a previous study aimed at taking advantage of the mucilaginous property of water hyacinth (Mari et al. Pulp Proportions 2010), water content of the plant’s stems was mechanically Abaca (A) Wastepaper (W) Water Hyacinth (F, D, G) extracted and successfully used as formation aid in 100 0 0 making handsheets from equal proportions of abaca and 75 0 25 wastepaper pulp. The extract significantly increased the 50 0 50 tensile strength of the resulting handsheets while residual 25 0 75 mass after extraction can be used for other purposes. 0 100 0 0 75 25 Considering the above information, this study evaluated 0 50 50 0 25 75 the suitability of water hyacinth pulp for specialty 0 0 100 handmade paper using this residual mass and compared the results with those from the fresh and air-dried stalks. The evaluation focused specifically on the strength Testing and evaluation of properties of handsheets properties and water resistance of standard laboratory Hand sheets were tested for Cobb, burst, tensile, and handsheets from pure water hyacinth pulp and in mixture tear strength properties in accordance with the standard with either abaca or wastepaper pulp. Proportional cost of procedures, ISO 535, ISO 2758, ISO 1924-2, and ISO water hyacinth as raw material in comparison with abaca 1974, respectively (ISO 2003). For burst test, 10 sample was also estimated based on pulp yield and purchase cost data were obtainable; the rest, only 5 sample data per of raw material. Results from this study will significantly treatment. add to the considerations (advantages and disadvantages) in using water hyacinth as a raw material for paper. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) in completely randomized design (CRD) and Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) were conducted to evaluate the effect of the different proportions of pulps on the handsheets. MATERIALS AND METHODS Estimation of costs Materials Estimation of cost was limited to the cost of abaca and The fiber materials were commercial semi-bleached water hyacinth materials based only on their respective abaca pulp, bond paper trimmings, and water hyacinth pulp yield and purchase cost. stems from three preparations prior to pulping, namely, fresh (F), air dried (D), and the residual mass (G) after the extraction of the stems’ juice. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Preparation of pulps The commercial semi-bleached abaca pulp lap and bond Pulp Freeness paper trimmings were simply disintegrated into pulp. The freeness of pulp is a measure of the rate at which a dilute suspension of pulp may be drained (ISO 5267- The water hyacinth materials were separately cooked with 2:2001 (ISO 2003). It is a measure used in controlling the NaOH at 15% chemical charge (based on oven-dry mass) beating operation as it relates to the speed at which paper in an 80-L vessel for two hours. The cooked fibers were could be made as well as the corresponding changes in squeezed off residual cooking chemical, washed with strength of paper from the beaten pulps. water, and then disintegrated in the valley beater. The pulp was bleached with 5% calcium hypochlorite for 30 Figure 1 shows the freeness values in Canadian Standard minutes and washed thoroughly. Freeness (CSF) mL of pulp stocks from different proportions of water hyacinth (F only), abaca, and wastepaper pulps. Pulp Freeness The freeness of water hyacinth, abaca, and wastepaper pulps, In this study, the freeness of the water hyacinth pulps after singly or in combination with each other, was measured disintegration was measured first. Pulp G’s freeness could following the standard ISO 5267-2:2001 (ISO 2003). not be determined as water could hardly drain. Pulps F and 180 Philippine Journal of Science Mari EL: Parchment Paper from Water Hyacinth Vol. 141 No. 2, December 2012 show the difference when water hyacinth pulp is partly substituted to these materials. This is limited to this study only and does not necessarily suggest elimination of beating for other purposes. As Figure 1 shows, 100% abaca pulp had the highest freeness value of 674 CSF mL, followed by wastepaper pulp wit 473 CSF mL. Partial substitution with water hyacinth pulp caused proportional decrease in the values. Tables 1 and 2 show the results of ANOVA on the properties of handsheets from different proportions of hyacinth pulp (F, D, and G) with abaca and wastepaper pulps, respectively. Incidentally, no hand sheet was successfully formed with 100% pulp from ground (G) Figure 1. Freeness values of different pulp stocks. hyacinth stems, as the pulp slurry could not drain. Thus, Note: A – abaca; W – wastepaper; FH – fresh water hyacinth instead of factorial in CRD with type of hyacinth pulp and pulp ratio as variables, ANOVA in simple CRD was D (no longer shown) had very low freeness, which indicate conducted for each pulp combination with only pulp ratio the pulps’ very fine nature and the probable cohesion or as the variable. Data indicate highly significant effect of pulling together of the hemicelluloses and other softened the treatments on all properties. substances in the pulp as the water is drained. In view of Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the property mean values. In this, it was decided that the other materials (abaca and both figures, the left set of data is with abaca and water wastepaper) would also no longer be beaten to clearly Table 1. ANOVA on the properties of handsheets from different proportions of water hyacinth and abaca pulps. F:A pulp mixtures Source of Variation Mean Square DF Burst Index DF Tear Index Tensile Index Cobb Treatment 4 5.554** 4 1241.650** 292.525** 4254.421** Error 45 0.584 20 31.478 64.425 54.422 Total 49 24 R-square,