Study of Mechanical Properties of Palm Oil Pulp Sheet based Empty

Fruit Bunches

Susiani

, Evi Oktavia

, Gema Sukmawati Suryadi

, Purnomo Ananto

and Handika Dany Rahmayanti

State Polytechnic of Creative Media, Jakarta, Indonesia

Pulp and Paper, Research and Development Department, Bandung, Indonesia

Keywords: Mechanical Properties, Pulp, Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches.

Abstract: Nowadays, cellulose derived from natural wood still dominates the raw materials for pulp and paper

manufacturing in Indonesia. As a result, there are concerns that the rate of deforestation will continue to

increase. This study aims to examine the use of oil palm empty bunches (OPEFB) in paper making. The

results of the mechanical pulping show that the steam process will open larger OPEFB pores so that it

contributes to lowering the crack index value even though it makes a good contribution to the Bendtsen

roughness value. The yield from this OPEFB pulp can be used as a base pulp in duplex cardboard making.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8962-827X

INTRODUCTION

Palm oil is a commodity in the plantation sector

which is growing rapidly in Indonesia. However, the

palm oil processing process also produces waste,

both solid waste and liquid waste. One of the solid

wastes produced is empty fruit bunches. Oil palm

empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) have considerable

potential to be reused. The lignocellulose content in

OPEFB can be used as a raw material for making

paper. Currently, cellulose derived from natural

wood still dominates the raw material for pulp and

paper manufacture in Indonesia. As a result, it is

feared that the rate of deforestation will continue to

increase. This study aims to examine the use of oil

palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) in paper

making. The results showed that the mass density of

OPEFB varied around 0.7 – 1.55 g/cm

and had a

fiber angle of 46° (Mohamad et al, 1985; Law and

Jiang, 2001; Bismarck, 2005; Amar, 2005; Zulkifli

et al, 2009). ; Khalil et al, 2008; Hassan et al, 2010).

According to Hassan et al (2010) the length of this

EFB fiber is between hardwood and softwood. The

higher the length of the fiber to the diameter of the

fiber, the higher the value of felting power.

Microfibril angle, cell dimensions and fiber

chemical composition are important variables that

will determine the overall properties of a fiber (John

and Thomas, 2008). The value of the flexibility ratio

will affect the final properties of the composite

material. Fibers with thick cell walls have high

resistance to collapse and do not contribute to inter-

fiber bonding (Reddy and Yang, 2005). Although a

higher Muhlstep ratio value indicates a lower quality

class, the high Muhlstep ratio is an indication of a

large fiber surface area so that the potential for

bonding between fibers is also greater when making

paper sheets. The lower the Runkel ratio value, the

thinner the cell wall and the larger the fiber

diameter. On the other hand, the thicker the cell

wall, the more bulky sheets will be produced with

low tensile, bursting and tear resistance (Mishra et

al, 2004). Therefore, OPEFB pulp fiber has the

potential to be used as raw material for medium liner

paper and molded pulp for both food packaging and

other packaging materials such as electronic goods,

etc. The mechanical properties of OPEFB are tensile

strength of 50 – 400 MPa, Young's modulus of 0.57

– 9 GPa and break length of 2.5 – 18% (Sreekala et

al, 2004; Bismarck, 2005; Kalam et al, 2005; Bakar

et al, 2006).

Susiani, ., Oktavia, E., Suryadi, G., Ananto, P. and Dany Rahmayanti, H.

Study of Mechanical Properties of Palm Oil Pulp Sheet based Empty Fruit Bunches.

DOI: 10.5220/0010945900003260

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineering Science (iCAST-ES 2021), pages 365-367

ISBN: 978-989-758-615-6; ISSN: 2975-8246

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

365

METHOD

The first stage is conditioning so that the water

content is uniform. Furthermore, the determination

of the chemical composition by means of OPEFB is

powdered using a wiley mill, then filtered using a

sieve shaker to obtain a powder that passes a 40

mesh sieve and is retained on a 60 mesh sieve.

Analysis of chemical components was carried out

according to the Indonesian National Standard

(SNI), covering the levels of holocellulose, alpha

cellulose, lignin, pentosan, ash, silicates, extractives

(alcohol-benzene extract), solubility in cold water,

hot water and 1% NaOH. Before making sheets, the

pulp is decomposed using a disintegrator. After that,

sheets were made and physical properties were

tested for the pulp consisting of stiffness index,

bursting index, tensile strength and roughness index.

Furthermore, EFB is pulped mechanically using a

Masher for 4 cycles using variations of 2.5% and 5%

NaOH with varied operational times (short and long)

and variations in the use of steam and without using

steam. The OPEFB pulp was then refined, filtered,

ground to 300 mL CSF and disintegrated to

decompose the fibers and then the suspension was

diluted to a consistency of 2.5%. After that it is

formed into a pulp sheet).

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

In this study, OPEFB was pulped mechanically

using Masher for 4 cycles using variations of 2.5%

and 5% NaOH with varied operating times (short

and long) and variations in the use of steam and

without using steam. OPEFB pulp that has been

produced mechanically using a masher was prepared

as the basis for the manufacture of duplex paper in

the next year's research phase. This pulp sheet is

tested with parameters such as stiffness, pullout

resistance, roughness and crack index. The first test

parameter is stiffness. The stiffness parameter is

needed to determine the potential of OPEFB as a

raw material for making pulp. The higher the

stiffness value, the better it is as a pulp raw material

for duplex paper. However, a stiffness value that is

too high will cause low bending resistance or poor

creasing folding properties. However, the poor

folding properties can be overcome by adding a

paper coating or coating material in the next research

stage. Figure 1 shows the highest stiffness in the

mechanical pulping process using steam, 2.5%

NaOH and a short processing time, namely the

addition of NaOH in the 20 minute, then followed in

the same process the addition of 2.5% NaOH in the

30 minute.

Figure 1: OPEFB mechanical pulp sheet stiffness.

Next is the pull out resistance test. The pullout

resistance value was obtained by the IGT method.

The value of pullout resistance is important to be

tested because it will affect the use of the next

duplex coating material. The IGT pullout resistance

value for duplex paper according to SNI

specification 123:2019 is at least 800 pm/s. All

variations of the pulping process carried out in this

study in Figure 2 show good pullout resistance rates,

which are above 800 pm/s. The pulping process,

both with 2.5% NaOH and 5% NaOH, both without

using steam, showed the highest value for this

pullout resistance parameter.

Figure 2: OPEFB mechanical pulp sheet pull out

resistance.

Next test the Roughness parameter. The roughness

value was tested by the Bendtsen method. This

Bendtsen roughness value is not required for duplex

paper but is required for medium liner paper.

Generally, paper mills that produce duplex paper

also use the same raw materials as medium liner

paper production. This parameter is still needed

because the OPEFB raw material is known to have a

high roughness so that it will affect the value of

water absorption and oil penetration. In SNI medium

liner paper SNI 8053.1:2014, the Bendtsen

roughness value is set to a maximum of 1500

iCAST-ES 2021 - International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineering Science

366

mL/minute. Figure 3 shows the low Bendtsen

roughness values found in the mechanical pulping

process using 2.5% NaOH either with the help of

steam or without steam, both in short and long

processing times. The use of steam will open the

pores of the OPEFB fiber surface so that it will

absorb more air bubbles used in testing pulp sheets

using the Bendtsen method.

Figure 3: OPEFB mechanical pulp sheet roughness.

Figure 4: OPEFB mechanical pulp sheet crack index.

Finally, the OPEFB pulp sheets were tested for crack

index. As a result, the crack index on the EFB pulp

sheet in Figure 4 is quite low. The higher the crack

index, the better the paper properties.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of mechanical pulping show that the

steam process will open the OPEFB pores larger so

that it contributes to lowering the crack index value

even though it makes a good contribution to the

Bendtsen roughness value. The results of this EFB

pulp can be used as a base pulp in the manufacture

of duplex cartons. Suggestions for the next stage of

research, OPEFB pulp needs to be added with

additives in the form of dry strength and wet

strength to help increase the value of the crack

index. In addition, coating materials also need to be

added to help increase the value of folding or

creasing.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

DIPA Polimedia 2020-2021

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