Effects of mercerization on the properties of paper produced from Malaysian pineapple leaf fiber

Abstract

Environmental awareness and depletion of the wood resources are among vital factors that motivate various researchers to explore the potential of agro-based crops as an alternative source of fiber material in paper industries such as writing, printing, wrapping, and packaging. Fibers from agro-based crops are available in abundance, low cost, and most importantly its biodegradability features, which sometimes referred as “ecofriendly” materials. This paper reports the effects of mercerization (NaOH treatment) on the properties of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) pulp and paper. The individual fibers were characterized having good tensile properties at 15% NaOH treatment and favourable structural properties as characterized by Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). It was also shown that the PALF paper achieved desirable tear index value and uniform morphological observations at 15% NaOH concentration. This type of chemical treatment is useful to obtain PALF based paper products.