Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 5 (2017) 5978–5986

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Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

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Research Paper

Production of paper from pineapple leaves T

⁎
Stephen Sibaly, Pratima Jeetah
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Wood is used as the major raw material in paper production around the world and this has resulted in severe
Paper production deforestations having direct negative impact on our environment. This has led to the need of finding alternative
Pineapple leaves raw materials for paper production. Mauritius has around 300 ha of land under pineapple cultivation resulting in
Natural fibre agro-waste materials of the leaves. This paper aims at determining the feasibility of using pineapple leaf fibres
Cane bagasse
for paper production. Samples of pineapple leaf fibre were mixed with cane-bagasse in different ratios namely,
Mechanical properties
20:80, 40:60, 60:40, 80:20,100:0. Pineapple leaf fibres were also mixed with wastepaper in the same ratios.
Pulping of pineapple leaf was achieved through soda pulping at a concentration of 15%w/v for 90 min at 90 °C.
The papers obtained were tested for their physical and mechanical properties. The average thickness of all the
papers produced, ranged from 0.232 mm to 0.304 mm showing an increase in paper thickness with increasing
grammage from 58.19 g/m2 to 63.3 g/m2. The most absorbent paper(1.19 s) was found to be the 100% pine-
apple which also demonstrated the highest Tensile Index and Burst Index (6.5 Nm/g and 0.84 kPa m2/g re-
spectively). The bagasse and pineapple composite of ratio 40:60 was found to be the most abrasion resistant
paper with 21 turns and a weight loss of 0.86% with the use of emery paper of grade zero as abradant and 200 g
load cells. The most crease resistant paper was the wastepaper and pineapple composite of ratio 80:20 with a
crease recovery angle of 59.8°.

1. Introduction
Paper, is mainly produced from cellulosic fibres and possesses an
array of specialised functions including educational, packaging and
cleaning purposes. Wood, as the main raw material in global pulp and
paper production, hugely contributes to depletion of forest resources,
hence triggering an adverse impact on environment [1]. Presently,
around 45% of industrial timber production is used in pulp production
industry, and in Europe this fraction amounts to 50%. The main pulp
and paper manufacturer is USA accounting about 38% of the global
production, followed by Canada with 15%, Japan 7.5% and Sweden 6%
[2]. Lately a rising interest in moving away from wood dependence for
paper making, saw the introduction of non-timber materials as sub-
stitute to the conventional raw material [3]. Only 10% of global paper
production industry utilize non-wood lignocellulosic materials in its
process. This paper aims at testing the viability of producing paper from
pineapple leaves as an alternative to wood. This non-timber usage as
raw material depends on countries’ availability of non-timber resources
for paper production. There exists an abundance of non-wood lig-
nocellulosic fibres which act as possible resources for pulp with fewer
environmental deterioration risk than wood [1]. Sources like banana
fibre and carpet grass have previously been commercialized as
substitute [4]. Pineapple leaf fibre as resource for paper production is
considerably new in industry. Pineapples cultivated under selective
breeding were researched to have higher cellulose content than wood
fibre, and hence indicate that such non-timber fibre make good sub-
stitutes. Other than reduced felling of trees, other benefits regarding the
plant itself includes short growth cycles and low lignin content thus
improving use of energy and chemicals during pulping process [1]. On
top of that, the cultivation of pineapple takes up to more than 300 ha of
land in Mauritius [5] and the pineapple leaves which would be sent to
the landfill as a waste could instead be used for its true value as source
of natural fibres.
2. Trade of pineapple
The pineapple plant botanically known as “Ananas comosus” is an
herb having a height of 0.75 to 1.5 m and having a spread of 0.9 to
1.2 m [6]. It has long pointed leaves which are normally 50 to 180 cm
long bearing sharp spines on the edges [7,6]. It normally takes 12 to 14
months to flower depending on the variety and about 6 to 8 months for
the fruit to ripen [8]. The pineapple plant consists of about 30–50
leaves with an average weight of 35 g per leaf which results in about 1-
1.5 kg of leaves per plant left in the field after cultivation.

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: p.jeetah@uom.ac.mu (P. Jeetah).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2017.11.026
Received 30 July 2017; Received in revised form 2 November 2017; Accepted 8 November 2017
Available online 10 November 2017
2213-3437/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Sibaly, P. Jeetah
Fig. 1. Collection of pineapple leaves.
3. Materials and methods
3.1. Raw material preparation
Pineapples leaves were harvested in the month of October from the
Domaine de Labourdonnais which is the biggest fresh fruit juice man-
ufacturing industry in Mauritius located at Mapou. Due to the favour-
able climate of the Island, pineapple is available whole year round and
mostly during October to April. The pineapple leaves were then sepa-
rated from their bundle and washed thoroughly with water to remove
dirt and soil particles. A knife was used to cut the spiky edges of the
leaves to prevent hand injuries while handling the leaves (Fig. 1).
The leaves were allowed to dry in an oven at 60 °C for 3 days and
then cut into small pieces of about 5 cm long. The pineapple leaf fibre
were used in different proportions (Table 1) with bagasse which was
collected at the local sugarcane industry and wastepaper collected from
the University of Mauritius press.
Around 100 mL of cooking liquor consisting of soda at a con-
centration of 15%w/v was poured in a beaker containing 30 g of dried
pineapple leaves to submerge the sample. The soda having a purity of
75% was obtained from the Chemical engineering laboratory of the
University of Mauritius. The beaker was then placed on the hot plate set
to 250–300 rpm and the temperature was monitored at 90 ± 2.5 °C
using a thermometer. A magnetic stirrer was added to the beaker for
mixing by the electric mixer and cooking process was done for 90 min.
The cooled cooked mixture was thoroughly washed with water until the
effluent became clear and were squeezed. Any unwanted materials such
as shives and knots were removed from the pulp. The squeezed pulp
was then oven-dried at 60 °C to obtain a dry mass of pulp to be used for
paper making.
3.2. Physical and mechanical testing
3.2.1. Thickness
The thickness of the paper was determined using the Shirley
Thickness Tester. This apparatus was found to be adequate for testing
paper produced from fibrous materials since the later does not have a
smooth and homogenous surface to allow measurement with a micro-
meter without the risk of compressing the surface of the paper while
measuring its thickness. Hence, this method provides a value of the
Table 1
Ratio of mass of wastepaper and pineapple leaf.
Mix ratio (Wastepaper: Mass of waste Mass of
Pineapple) or (Bagasse: paper (g) or pineapple fibre
Pineapple) bagasse (g)
20:80 6 24
40:60 12 18
60:40 18 12
80:20 24 6 30
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 5 (2017) 5978–5986
thickness of the paper at no compression (y-intercept) which can be
obtained by extrapolating the compression curve to 0 N. Measurements
were taken at eight different places for each sample and a mean
thickness was determined with an accuracy of ± 0.001 mm.
3.2.2. Absorbency
This test is used to determine the liquid sorption rate of paper
products by making use of gravimetric principles [9]. It involves
dropping a known volume of water onto the surface of the paper and
measuring the time for the drop of water to be absorbed. [9]. This test
can be used to determine if a paper is of acceptable quality to be used as
tissue paper according to its absorbency rate for sorptive purposes. The
absorbency of the paper can be modified by using internal sizing agents
which helps to increase the resistance of a sheet against the penetration
of aqueous liquids such as rosin [10]. This is achieved by the addition of
internal sizing agents such as rosin [11]. The absorbency was measured
by placing the conditioned sample was on top of an empty and dry
beaker so that the center was unsupported. A micropipette was used to
transfer 0.01 cm3 (10 μL) of water on top of the paper. A stopwatch was
immediately started when the preset volume of water was dropped on
the paper and stopped when the water droplet was completely dis-
persed through the paper. This procedure was repeated ten times at
different places for the same type of sample.
3.2.3. Tensile strength and tensile index
Tensile strength is the highest tensile force needed to rupture a test
sample under recommended laboratory conditions. It gives the force
per unit width of the sample being tested. A total of 8 representative
test pieces of 25 ± 1 mm wide and 165 ± 5 mm long were cut for
each type of paper and tested using the universal testometric testing
machine to obtain the tensile properties of the papers such as elonga-
tion at break, force at break, force at peak, time to failure, time to peak,
Young’s modulus, strain at break and stress at break which allowed to
calculate the tensile strength and tensile index. The rate of elongation
(cross head speed) was set to 10 mm/min ± 2.5 mm/min.
3.2.4. Bursting strength and burst index
Burst strength also termed as Mullen or pop strength, is used to
determine the hydrostatic pressure needed to burst a paper sample
[12–15]. It involves a constant increase in pressure through a rubber
diaphragm which inflates underneath the paper sample by glycerine
until it ruptures. According to the Tappi T 403 om-97 this burst can be
described in terms of force per weight basis which is called as the burst
index. Eight test specimens were cut using sample cutter for each paper
to an equivalent area of 0.01 m2. The test area of the specimen was
subjected to an increasing pressure by the inflating rubber diaphragm
and rotation was stopped and recorded when rupture appeared or when
pop sound was heard during bursting of specimen.
3.2.5. Abrasion resistance
The abrasion resistance test is the main element considered in the
determination of a product’s lifespan [16]. It is affected by the type of
fibre used, and the way that the fibres are linked to each other. This test
assesses the tribological properties of the material being tested by
bringing it into contact with another fabric, which in this case is emery
paper, and rubbing their surfaces to determine the ability of the ma-
terial to withstand abrasion [17]. Eight specimens were prepared for
Total
each type of paper using template of diameter 38 mm and their mass
mass (g)
recorded. The specimens were placed in a sample holder which was
fastened securely to prevent slippage of specimen during testing. The
30 abradent was prepared using a rectangular template of size 5” × 5”.
30
The paper samples were subjected to a rigorous rubbing by making use
30
of emery paper of grade zero which is a highly abradent surface and by
applying 200 g load cells to obtain faster results.
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S. Sibaly, P. Jeetah
3.2.6. Crease recovery
A crease happens in material when it experiences an accidental fold
while being processed. It is an effect which involves stresses such as
tensile, torsion, flex and compression [18]. Crease recovery is, there-
fore, the ability of a material to return to its initial position after being
creased. The crease recovery angle is used to measure the crease re-
sistance of a sample. A 0° angle means that there is no recovery and a
180° angle indicates a full recovery and, hence, a good creasing re-
sistance [19]. Rectangular specimens of size 1” × 2” were cut using a
template. The specimens were carefully pleated by folding into half and
gently placed under a 2 kg creasing load which was removed after
1 min. The crease was then allowed to recover for 1 min. This was
conducted on 5 specimens for each type of paper and a mean value of
recovery angle was determined.
3.3. Sheet preparation and formation
According to the Tappi T205 sp-12 standard, laboratory handsheets
of 60 g/m2 were formed. The upper part of the paper making apparatus
called the deckle was unscrewed and opened to reveal the mold onto
which the paper will be formed. A spirit level was used to check if the
mold was levelled and adjusted if it was not the case by placing pieces
of cloth under the mold. The gaps between the mold and the apparatus
were filled with rubber strips to prevent leakages thereby leading to loss
of pulp. Water was allowed to fill the apparatus from the bottom upto a
depth of about 350 mm above the surface of the mold and the drain of
the apparatus was opened with a swift movement to allow the water to
drain through the sheet under suction. The mold was then removed
from the apparatus and placed onto a felt material (Fig. 2).
The wet sheets were allowed to dry at room temperature and
pressure for a period of two days before being peeled off the felt ma-
terial. The sheets were then flattened under the pressure of books for
24 h (Fig. 3) and then stored for physical and mechanical testing.
4. Results and discussions
4.1. Physical properties: grammage, thickness and density
Paper is generally commercialised according to its grammage which
is the mass per unit area [20]. Hence, this property plays a major role in
determining the price of paper both for the producer and the consumer.
Grammage of a paper can be varied by increasing or decreasing the
Fig. 2. Wet sheet on felt material.
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Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 5 (2017) 5978–5986
amount of pulp used for one sheet depending upon the end use of the
paper. Several physical properties are also dependent upon grammage
such as thickness and bulk density and increasing grammage will cer-
tainly increase the mechanical and physical properties of the paper
[21]. However, a high grammage will consume more pulp for every ton
of paper to be produced. The Tappi standard T205 sp-02 was used to
produce papers having a grammage of 60 g/m2 which is required for
the subsequent tests on the paper. However, it was seen that slight
deviations from this pre-set value were obtained as shown in Table 2.
These deviations were mainly due to the fact that a greater amount of
pulp was used to make up for the pulp loss in the papermaking appa-
ratus and the loss in pulp varied with each paper produced. It was
observed that the grammage determined for the produced papers
marginally exceeded the preset value of 60 g/m2. This is due to the
excess amount of pulp which was chosen to compensate for loss of pulp
in the paper making apparatus during the determination of pulp mass
for papermaking
The thickness of a paper is bound to vary with a change in gram-
mage as shown in Fig. 4.
An increase in grammage from 58.19 g/m2 to 63.60 g/m2 resulted
in an increase in the paper thickness from 0.232 mm 0.304 mm due to
the presence of more cellulosic fibrous materials in the paper per unit
area. Furthermore, the papers formed had a density which was near the
250–1500 kg/m3 range [12–15] for different categories of papers with
100% pineapple paper being the closest with a density of about 251 kg/
m3 suggesting that the papers had a decent compactness [22] con-
sidering the fact that no fillers and additives were added to the paper.
The general relationship is that thickness is a factor of the amount of
material which is used. The trend shows that if more material is used to
manufacture the sheet of paper, the grammage is more and hence the
thickness will increase. On the contrary if less material is used, the
grammage is less and so will the thickness.
The Tappi standard T205 sp-02 was used to produce papers having a
grammage of 60 g/m2 which is required for the subsequent mechanical
tests on the paper. However, it was seen that (Fig. 5) slight deviations
from this pre-set value was seen. The main reason is because of losses of
pulp in the sheet forming equipment, the amount of pulp used was
higher to ensure that a grammage of 60 g/m2 is obtained after the
losses. But the loss in pulp amount differed each time resulting in slight
deviation. As per the Tappi standard, normal printing paper made from
wood pulp have a grammage generally between 60 and 120 g/m2.
Hence given that majority of the paper that were produced from
pineapple fibres had a grammage above 60 g/m2, it can be inferred that
the papers produced are good for printing.
5. Mechanical analysis
5.1. Absorbency
Absorbency of paper can be controlled by using a water repellent
sizing material (e.g. rosin, soluble starch) to delay water absorption rate
of paper [22,21]. The water absorbency of a material also have strong
influence on the printability [9]. The water absorbency time for the
different types of papers produced from pineapple leaves are shown in
Fig. 6:
It was found that composite ratios of wastepaper and pineapple
leaves had a lower absorbency time than composite ratios of bagasse
and pineapple leaves ranging from 1.27-1.45 s compared to 1.32-1.68 s.
For the mix of 60% bagasse and 40% pineapple leaves, a slight decrease
in the absorbency time (1.60) was observed. This might have resulted in
an admixture with higher hemicellulose or lignin content resulting in a
higher moisture uptake rate [23] hence a lower absorbency time. It was
also found that the absorbency time of the composite papers decreased
with increasing percentage of pineapple fibres in the paper as shown by
the declining trends in both curves. This might be due to a decrease in
cellulose content of the mixture which decreased the hydrophilic
S. Sibaly, P. Jeetah Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 5 (2017) 5978–5986

Fig. 3. Paper samples.

Table 2 pineapple fibre ratio revealed the highest absorbency time of 1.68 s.
Average grammage, thickness and density for the different papers produced. The high absorbency time may be explained by the fact that bagasse is
richer in cellulose content which coupled with glucose units piled up to
Classification Percentage Average Average Density % error
of paper fibre grammage thickness (kg/m3) grammage result in crystalline structures having hydrogen bonding between the
composition (g/m2) (mm) molecules. These bonds provided a firm polymer which repels water
[26] thus decreasing the rate of water absorption.
Wastepaper: 20: 80 63.31 0.289 219.07 5.5
Pineapple 40: 60 63.60 0.304 209.21 6.0
60: 40 62.46 0.274 227.96 4.0 5.2. Tensile strength and tensile index
80: 20 60.42 0.262 230.61 0.7
Pineapple 100 58.19 0.232 250.82 3.2
Bagasse: 20: 80 58.50 0.246 237.80 2.5
For the determination of the tensile index, total of 8 samples for
Pineapple 40: 60 59.65 0.255 233.92 0.7 each types of papers were tested using the universal testometric ma-
60: 40 63.00 0.276 228.26 5.0 chine. The mean tensile properties obtained are shown in Table 3.
80: 20 61.85 0.264 234.28 3.0 From the parameters tested, tensile index was calculated. Fig. 7
shows the findings of the tensile index for the composite paper samples
made of papers made from various percentages of pineapple fibres.
property of the paper produced [24,25], hence increasing the absor-
The tensile index of both composite papers was found to increase
bance of fluid. The 20:80 wastepaper to pineapple fibre composite ratio
with increasing percentage of pineapple fibre. The paper with max-
showed the least absorbency time of 1.27 s while the 80:20 bagasse to
imum tensile index of 6.515 Nm/g was found to be that made of 100%

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S. Sibaly, P. Jeetah
pineapple fibre while the lowest tensile index of 0.618 Nm/g recorded
was the wastepaper to pineapple composite having a ratio of 80:20. The
maximum tensile index may be due to a higher cellulose content [27],
longer cell length, higher degree of polymerization of cellulose and
lower micro-fibrillar angle present in pineapple fibres which resulted in
a higher mechanical strength (higher tensile strength and Young’s
modulus) [28] and hence a higher tensile index. Bagasse to pineapple
composites were found to have higher tensile indexes than wastepaper
to pineapple composites showing that pineapple fibres have a higher
bonding strength with bagasse fibres as compared to wastepaper [29].
Interestingly the tensile index for the bagasse to pineapple composite
had an optimum tensile index of 6.141 Nm/g at 60% pineapple fibre
content and then started to decrease. This indicates that bagasse de-
velops higher bonding strength with pineapple fiber at 60% mix during
paper formation as compared to the remaining percentage. The op-
timum tensile index of 3.896 Nm/g for the wastepaper to pineapple
composite was at 80% pineapple fibre content. The value of 6.515 Nm/
g for the tensile index obtained for paper made of 100% pineapple fibre
largely exceeded the reported value of 0.19 Nm/g by [1] which could
be due to the presence of more cellulosic fibres in the paper since a
different pulping method was used for this experiment to maximise
pulp yield and, hence, resulting in more cellulosic fibres.
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Fig. 4. Relationship between grammage and thick-
ness.
5.3. Bursting strength and burst index
Bursting strength tests gives an indication of the amount, proportion
and distribution of fibres in the paper, which are usually affected by the
preparation method, beating time, refining, fibre length, fibre quality
and addition of surface additives [30]. The values of Bursting Strength
and Burst Index of the different types of papers produced were recorded
in Table 4:
The graph of Burst Index against the percentage by mass of pine-
apple fibre (Fig. 8) was found to have a similar trend to that of Tensile
Index against the percentage by mass of pineapple fibre. The Burst
Index of both composite papers was shown to increase with increasing
percentage of pineapple fibre. This may be explained by the superiority
of pineapple leaf fibre mechanical properties which is related with the
high content of alpha-cellulose content and low microfibrillar angle
(14°) [31]. The paper with maximum Burst Index of 0.84 kPa m2/g was
found to be that made of 100% pineapple fibre while the lowest Burst
Index of 0.25 kPa m2/g recorded was the wastepaper to pineapple
composite having a ratio of 80:20. This indicates that without any ad-
dition of wastepaper or bagasse in the pulp mix, the most burst resistant
paper can be produced as compared to [29] whereby an addition of
about 20% wastepaper to banana fibres in the pulp mix produced the
most burst resistant paper. A strange decrease in the Burst Index was
recorded from a ration of 60:40 wastepaper to pineapple composite to
Fig. 5. Grammage of the various types of paper
produced.
S. Sibaly, P. Jeetah Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 5 (2017) 5978–5986

Fig. 6. Water absorbency graph for the different

papers tested.

ratio of 80:20 and thereafter again increased to 0.84 kPa m2/g for 100%
pineapple paper. As per [32], pineapple fibres has higher strength than
other natural fibres which should give an increasing trend in the
Bursting Index with increasing proportion of pineapple fibres. However,
this sudden decrease from 60:40 wastepaper to banana mix to 80: 20
wastepaper to banana can be due to the uneven distribution of the
pineapple fibers in the paper during the preparation method [30]
leading to a decrease in the burst index. The bagasse to pineapple
composites had higher Burst Indexes than the wastepaper to pineapple
composites showing that pineapple fibres have a better fibre distribu-
tion and higher bonding strength with bagasse fibres compared to
wastepaper [33]. Furthermore, the Burst Index for the bagasse to
pineapple composite reached an optimum value of 0.72 kPa m2/g at
60% pineapple fibre content and then started to decrease. The optimum
Burst Index of 0.48 kPa m2/g for the wastepaper to pineapple compo-
site was found to be at 80% pineapple fibre content. The value of
0.84 kPa m2/g for the Burst Index obtained for paper made of 100%
pineapple fibre was found to be lower than the reported value of
1.47 kPa m2/g observed by [26] which could be due to the different
pulping method used (soda concentration of 3 wt% and temperature of
110 °C) and the variety of pineapple leaves obtained. It has been re-
ported that papers made from wood pulp having a grammage of 60 g/
m2, the normal bursting index is 3.5 which is much higher than that of
the papers produced.
5.4. Abrasion resistance
Abrasion resistance governs the life span of a material as it affects its
appearance, strength and functionality and evaluates the tribological
behaviour of papers under real life conditions [29]. Moreover, the
abrasion resistance is vital not only for packaging papers and
paperboard, which have to tolerate abrasive forces during shipping and
handling, but also for writing and typing papers, which should be
capable of withstanding the action of an eraser [34]. The mean values
obtained for the abrasion properties including the number of turns until
rupture and% weight loss of the different types of papers tested are
reported in Figs. 9 and 10.
From Fig. 9, the composite of bagasse and pineapple leaves proved
to be more resistant to abrasion compared to the wastepaper and
pineapple composite. The abrasion resistance of the bagasse to pine-
apple composite increased advantageously from 9 turns at 20% pine-
apple fibre content to an optimum number of turns of 21 at 60%
pineapple fibre content and then started to decrease onwards showing
that the 40:60 bagasse to pineapple mix was the most abrasion resistant
one. This might be due the way the fibres are linked to each other [26]
at this ratio which forms microfibrils which provide a straight and
fundamentally sturdy framework [35]. The wastepaper and pineapple
mix also showed an increase in abrasion resistance from 8 to 14 turns at
20 to 80% pineapple fibre content respectively, thus, showing that the
best admixture was the 20:80 wastepaper- pineapple mix.
The abrasion weight loss analysis helped in determining the optimal
mix percentage for minimal weight losses [29]. Fig. 10 confirmed that
the bagasse and pineapple mix of ratio 40:60 was the most abrasion
resistant paper having a weight loss of 0.86% which corresponds to the
trend of abrasion resistance obtained for the same mix. The wastepaper
and pineapple composite papers showed a greater weight loss compared
to bagasse and pineapple composite papers thereby confirming that the
bagasse and pineapple mix was the most abrasion resistant composite.
This shows that pineapple fibres forms better bonds with bagasse than
with wastepaper which tallies with results reported by [29] when ba-
nana fibres were used with wastepaper and bagasse.

Table 3
Average Tensile properties for the different papers tested.

Paper type % by mass Grammage (g/ Elongation at break Force at Strain at Width Young’s Modulus Tensile Strength Tensile Index
of fibre m2) (mm) peak (N) break (%) (mm) (N/mm2) (kN/m) (Nm/g)

Waste paper: 20: 80 63.31 4.14 6.17 2.30 0.025 75.13 0.25 3. 90
Pineapple 40: 60 63.60 5.26 3.14 2.92 0.025 43.32 0.13 1.98
60: 40 62.46 4.04 1.78 2.24 0.025 45.01 0.07 1.14
80: 20 60.42 2.01 0.93 1.12 0.025 9.06 0.04 0.62
Pineapple 100 58.19 10.15 9.46 5.64 0.025 78.80 0.38 6.52
Bagasse: Pineapple 20: 80 58.50 5.74 7.16 3.19 0.025 64.76 0.29 4.90
40: 60 59.65 6.67 9.15 3.48 0.025 89.53 0.37 6.14
60: 40 63.00 5.21 3.93 2.89 0.025 28.55 0.16 2.50
80: 20 61.85 3.89 2.02 2.16 0.025 27.65 0.08 1.30

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Fig. 7. Tensile Index for the different papers tested.

Table 4 various stresses and thus the paper requires an adequate tensile strength
Average values of Burst Strength and Burst Index for all types of papers produced. and stretch resistance. Unfortunately, crease marks are left on the
specimen after enduring crease [36]. Fig. 11 illustrates that the re-
Classification of Percentage fibre Bursting Bursting Burst
paper composition strength (kg/ Strength Index covery angle decreases with increasing percentage of pineapple fibre in
cm2) (kPa) (kPa m2/ the samples. Both the wastepaper-pineapple mix and bagasse-pineapple
g) mix had an almost similar trend. The 80:20 wastepaper to pineapple
composite and 80:20 bagasse to pineapple composite had a maximum
Wastepaper: 20: 80 0.309 30.30 0.48
Pineapple 40: 60 0.288 28.24 0.44
recovery angle of 59.8° and 57.3° respectively. At an 80% pineapple
60: 40 0.225 22.06 0.35 fibre content, the wastepaper-pineapple composite and the bagasse-
80: 20 0.155 15.20 0.25 pineapple composite had a minimum recovery of 35.6° and 39.1° re-
Pineapple 100 0.499 48.94 0.84 spectively. The lowest recovery angle of 32.3° was found to be the
Bagasse: 20: 80 0.358 35.11 0.60
100% pineapple paper showing that is was the least crease resistant
Pineapple 40: 60 0.436 42.76 0.72
60: 40 0.232 22.75 0.36 paper.
80: 20 0.175 17.16 0.28

5.5. Crease recovery
Paper is frequently folded in daily applications (packaging and
wrapping) to give permanence [22]. Desired crease is imparted to paper
during intentional folding and wrapping. Crease subjects the material to
6. Conclusion
By a matter of facts it was found that pineapple leaf fibres had a
better compatibility with bagasse as a composite rather than waste-
paper which demonstrated low physical and mechanical properties.
This is due to the bagasse and pineapple fibres having better interlacing
bonds as demonstrated by their values of Tensile Index, Burst Index,

Fig. 8. Burst Index for the different papers tested.

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Fig. 9. Abrasion resistance graph for the different

papers tested.

Fig. 10. Abrasion weight loss analysis for the dif-

ferent papers tested.

Fig. 11. Crease recovery for the different papers

tested.

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S. Sibaly, P. Jeetah
and abrasion resistance being higher than wastepaper and pineapple
composites. The most absorbent paper (1.19 s) was found to be the
100% pineapple one and the least absorbent (1.68 s) was the bagasse
and pineapple composite of ratio 80:20. The 100% pineapple paper
demonstrated the highest Tensile Index and Burst Index of 6.5 Nm/g
and 0.84 kPa m2/g respectively followed by the bagasse and pineapple
composite having a ratio of 40:60 with Tensile Index and Burst Index of
6.1 Nm/g and 0.72 kPa m2/g respectively. The most abrasion resistant
paper was found to be the bagasse and pineapple composite of ratio
40:60 with 21 turns and a weight loss of 0.86% with the use of emery
paper of grade zero as abradant and 200 g load cells. The paper having
the least crease resistance was the 100% pineapple paper with a crease
recovery angle of 32.3° while the most crease resistant paper was the
wastepaper and pineapple composite of ratio 80:20 having a crease
recovery angle of 59.8°. The 100% pineapple paper, thus demonstrated
the best results for most of the tests carried out. It should be noted that
the papers demonstrated satisfactory results even though they were
produced without any additives to improve their mechanical and
physical properties. This shows the production of papers from 100%
pineapple fibre can be used for various purposes and can help save trees
and deforestation by becoming an alternative to wood based papers.
Moreover, if higher quality paper is required, this can be achieved by
the addition of fillers. This implies that any country using pineapple
fibres for paper production can benefit greatly from the use of natural
fibres to boost the country’s sustainability and economy and reduce the
amount of waste which would result by sending those valuable re-
sources to the landfill.
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