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FUTURE OF PINEAPPLE LEAF PAPER: A REVIEW

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 International Journal of Engineering Advanced Research
e-ISSN: 2710-7167 | Vol. 1, No. 2, 1-5, 2020
http://myjms.moe.gov.my/index.php/ijear

FUTURE OF PINEAPPLE LEAF PAPER: A REVIEW

Amirul Azan Mohd Sufian1, Siti Amira Othman2*, Noradriana Izzaty Hasrin3 and Siti Nur
Idayu Harun4
1234
Faculty of Applied Sciences and Technology, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA

*Corresponding author: sitiamira@uthm.edu.my

Accepted: 6 May 2020 | Published: 29 May 2020

Abstract: This paper reviews about the future of pineapple leaf paper by focusing on the
properties and potential of pineapple leaf paper. Besides that, environmental issues and quality of
pineapple leaf paper as compared with the existing paper in market are also discussed.

Keywords: pineapple leaf, paper, future.

1. Properties of Pineapples Leaf Paper

The most important of pineapple leaves paper properties depend on the chemical compositions of
the pineapple leaf fiber, which consist of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The pineapple leaf
has a ribbon-like structure and is cemented together by lignin and pentosane-like materials, which
bind together with a cellulosic composition. Apart from the lignin, both cellulose and
hemicelluloses will lead to the high strength of the fiber produced. The higher composition of the
pineapple leaves could affect the properties for paper production. Based on table 1 shows the
chemical composition of pineapple leaves that consist of higher content of cellulose which is
66.2% and Holocellulose which is 85.7% which really suitable for making paper (Stalk & Study,
2014).
Table 1: Chemical Composition of Pineapple Leaf
Constituent / Composition (w/w %) Pineapple Leaf
Ash content 4.50
Cellulose content 66.2
Holocellulose content 85.7
Hemicellulose content 19.5
1% NaOH Solubility 39.8
Lignin Content 4.28
Moisture Content 81.6

Based on Table 1 shows the chemical composition of pineapple leaves that consist of higher
content of cellulose which is 66.2% and Holocellulose which is 85.7% which really suitable for
making paper.

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 International Journal of Engineering Advanced Research
e-ISSN: 2710-7167 | Vol. 1, No. 2, 1-5, 2020
http://myjms.moe.gov.my/index.php/ijear

2. Potential of The Pineapple Leaf as Paper

Natural fibres such as pineapple leaves have many potential qualities over synthetic fibres. It has
low density, economical, renewable, thermal insulation, acceptable specific properties, less wear
during processing, and low energy consumption. There are many natural fibres available with
abundant amount, having attractive characteristics and ease of machining process. Natural fibres
are extracted from different plants such as jute, sisal, coir, hemp, kenaf, oil palm, cotton, banana
and have been explored worldwide to use its possibilities in different type of materials. Pineapple
leaves fibres are fine silky, small multicellular structure like thread and have medium length fibre
with high mechanical strength. Instead, pineapple leaves have their own properties which are
hydrophilic in nature, low cost and easily available and exhibits high specific strength and stiffness
come from the leaves. Cell of pineapple leaf fibres are joint tightly by pectin and have constitute
cellulose with percentage of 70–82 %, hemicelluloses percentage at 12.31 %) and lignin
percentage at 3.46 %. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of pineapple leaf fibres are very high
due to high cellulose content and low micro-fibrillar angle which is about 14°. It is used as
reinforcing material in composite matrix (Paper et al., 2017).

Challenges that was facing for the pulp and paper industry are the achievement of affordable
quality pulp while preserving the environment by using increasingly smaller amounts of water and
energy and gradually fewer raw material and it is very important to minimize pollution from
residual effluents that results from cooking and bleaching of the raw materials. Finally, the
increasing concern with the environment and its preservation have been exposed the need to
replace the classical pulping process such as kraft pulping which use sulphur containing reagents.
The release of sulphur to the environment can cause serious pollution problem. The new pulping
processes using less polluting chemicals known as the “organosolv” processes have been
developed by the researchers to resolve the problem (Laftah & Abdul Rahaman, 2015).

3. Environmental Issues
Paper is a product that has been existing since the early days for various kinds of use such as
educational, packaging, and cleaning purposes. It is mainly used for educational learning material
where all of the information and knowledge is gathered in a bunch of paper with the help of ink
called a book. Paper is produced from cellulosic fibres that are needed to be extracted from raw
material that contains fibres. The main raw material that used for paper production is wood that
can be obtained in the forest. However, the production of paper using wood has brought negative
effect where the deforestation occurred and led to various environmental issues. It is reported that
there are about 45% of industrial paper production globally. The major country that manufactured
the paper is the USA which is about 38%, followed by Canada with 15%, Japan with 7.5%, and
Sweden with 6% (Sibaly et al., 2017).

An alternative material has been developed to produce the paper without using wood in order to
minimize the number of woods used. The utilization of non-woods material in the production of
paper has covers for about 10% of the uses of woods throughout the world. The use of the material
in some country is different from another country such as in China, they used more than wheat
straw and other non-wood fibre to produce paper. As in Malaysia, there are some researchers has

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 International Journal of Engineering Advanced Research
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been done to use the pineapple fibres leaves to substitute the utilization of woods in paper
production (Yusof et al., 2011).

Pineapple leaf fibres is a good material for the paper as it has high textile grade commercial fibre
which can be extracted by water retting process. However, it contains only 2.5% - 3.5% of fibre
which is covered by a hydrophobic waxy layer that remains below the waxy layer. The pineapple
leaves fibre is graded in between the jute and cotton or jute and ramie as it has all of the textile
properties. It is also capable to blend with the jute, cotton, ramie, and some other synthetic fibres.
Therefore, pineapple leaves fibres can be a non-wood fibre natural material to be used in paper
production. It has the potential to become commercial-grade textile fibres, however, they required
assurance to have a sufficient quantity supplied before being to the processing industry (Banik et
al., 2011). There is a great amount of pineapple leaves waste after the fruits are being harvested
and it needs attention as the disposal cost is high. Figure 2 shows the pineapple leaves fibres.

Figure 2: Collection of Pineapple Leaves Waste

Nowadays, the concern towards the disposal of crop waste has been increasing as the amount of
crop waste keep on increasing along with the advanced technology. This is because of the
environmental pollution issues that occurred after the disposal process of these crop waste. The
example can be seen on the pineapple leaves disposal by burning it where there is a long effect on
the environment (Yusof et al., 2015). According to Kumar et al., (2013), open burning of these
crop waste will release various type of harmful chemicals such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-
dioxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH’s) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs)
referred to as dioxins. These chemicals will release on the form of gasses where many living things
can inhale it as they emitted without any protection which led to air pollution.

The air pollution brings various health effects towards the living things that live in the surrounding
of the landfill site. The toxicological properties on the chemicals have the potential to become
carcinogens which cause a carcinogenesis disease to the human. Carcinogenesis is a formation of
cancer from the substance in the gasses where it will damage the genome in the human body and
disturbing the cellular metabolic processes. Besides that, the burning of the crop waste will emit
carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide causes greenhouse effect where the
temperature on earth increasing and lead to global warming. Another health effect is coming from
the milk produced by the animal that inhales the gas emission from the burning crop waste. The
animals itself will eventually die from inhaling a great amount of carbon dioxide. The reason is

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 International Journal of Engineering Advanced Research
e-ISSN: 2710-7167 | Vol. 1, No. 2, 1-5, 2020
http://myjms.moe.gov.my/index.php/ijear

that the carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide capable to change the haemoglobin in the body to
the deadly haemoglobin.

4. Quality of Pineapple Leaf Paper with Existing Paper

Paper that made up from fiber is thin, tough, brittle, and rough. Pulp paper is not as strong, but is
easier to make, softer, thicker, and preferable for daily everyday purposes. The chemical
composition of pineapple fiber is similar to that of wood, making pineapple a good choice as a raw
material for manufacturing paper. The quality of paper is actually higher than wood, as pineapple
pulp is much better for paper than wood pulp. The quality of a paper can be confirmed by
considering some of important factor such weight, brightness, environmental-friendly concept, and
others.

Figure 2: Paper from Pineapple Fiber

In terms of weight, the heavier the weight of the paper, the greater the function of the paper.
Heavier paper commonly used for professional purpose and formal circumstance. The pineapple
leaves weight comes behind the existing paper. The weight of pineapple leaves appears more
lighter compared to existing paper.

Furthermore, the existing paper use concept of conventional bleaching by using chlorine elements
that produce and soon released to the environment in a large amount of chlorinated organic
compounds, such chlorinated dioxins. Dioxins are highly toxic and give bad effect to the
surroundings. While, the pineapple paper does not require the uses of chlorine element to preserve
the color or quality of the paper itself because of its natural fiber properties.

Pineapple is more durable than trees. Pineapple paper does not crack, or deteriorate like existing
paper. Besides, pineapple have more concentration of cellulose than wood, the major principle.
Thus, making it more stable to use for paper production. Trees are made up of only 30% cellulose,
requiring the use of toxic chemicals to remove the other 70%.

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 International Journal of Engineering Advanced Research
e-ISSN: 2710-7167 | Vol. 1, No. 2, 1-5, 2020
http://myjms.moe.gov.my/index.php/ijear

Instead, pineapple fiber can have have up to 85% cellulose content. Pineapple has lower lignin
content than wood. Pineapple contains 5-24% lignin whereas wood has 20-35%. This is
advantageous as lignin must be removed from the pulp before it can be processed as paper.

5. Conclusion
Pineapple leaf paper has a tremendous potential as a commercial paper. Although several aspects
has been discussed in this paper, probability future of this paper is still higher by considering its
brighter potential in the current market.

6. Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Technology, Universiti Tun
Hussein Onn Malaysia for the facilities provided and gratefully acknowledged the financial
support via research grant H074 that has made the research possible.
References
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waste for extraction of fibre and the residual biomass for vermicomposting. Indian Journal of
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Kumar P. and Laxmi Joshi. (2013). Pollution caused by agricultural waste burning and possible
alternate uses of crop stubble: A case study of Punjab. Environmental Science and
Engineering book series. pp. 367- 385.
Laftah, W. A., & Abdul Rahaman, W. A. W. (2015). Chemical pulping of waste pineapple leaves
fiber for kraft paper production. Journal of Materials Research and Technology, 4(3), 254–
261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2014.12.006.
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