VALORISATION OF PINEAPPLE CROWN AND CORNSTALK WASTES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PAPER BAGS

Pineapple crown and cornstalk wastes can be a source of raw material for the production of paper. This project consisted of valorising these wastes into paper used to produce paper bags by Soda pulping which gave pulp yields of 42.5% and 58.5% for pineapple crown leaf pulp and cornstalk pulp respectively. These wastes were used for paper manufacture due to their lignocellulosic content which was gotten as follows: 67% 18.3% and 7.5% for the cellulose hemicellulose and lignin contents of pineapple crown leaves respectively; and 48% 30.2% and 13.1% for the cellulose hemicellulose and lignin contents of cornstalks respectively.The paper which was produced using varying proportions of mixtures of pineapple crown leaf pulp and cornstalk pulp was analysed based on the following parameters using TAPPI (Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry) methods: pH by the TAPPI T 435 Standard method grammage by TAPPI T 410 water absorbency by TAPPI T 432 opacity by comparison with a 100% opaque black sample sheet and the tensile strength by the drag and pull method using the spring balance.