TITLE:
Experimental Study of Blended Pineapple Leaves and Elephant Grass Stems Fiber Pulp for the Production of Hard Cover Binding Papers
AUTHORS:
Beching Roland Oru, Efeze Dydimus Nkemaja, Defo Nacisse, Paul William Huisken Mejouyo, Thomas Kana’a, Ebenezer Njeugna
KEYWORDS:
Blended PLF and EGSF Pulp, Soda Pulping Method, Cellulose, Hard Cover Binding Paper, Grammage
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Engineering and Technology,
Vol.13 No.3,
August
26,
2025
ABSTRACT: This research focuses on the production of hard cover binding papers from blended pulps of pineapple leaves fiber (PLF) and elephant grass stems fiber (EGSF). These two non-valorized Cameroon vegetable fibers were chosen because of their cellulose content being above 35%. A commercial hard cover binding papers (S com) of grammage 100 g/m2 was bought in the market to serve as a reference paper for the required analysis. Chemical, Physical, Mechanical and Physico-chemical properties were determined for 12 specimen papers. PLF presented cellulose content 66.71%, hemicellulose 19.55%, lignin 7.75%, while EGSF presented cellulose content 43.26%, hemicellulose 9.34%, lignin 22.86%. PLF and EGSF pulp were produced using Soda Pulping method. 12 papers specimen (S1, to S12) were produced using the modified Japanese handmade paper method and tested and compared S com. S8 presented properties that were closer to S com. The physical properties of S8 presented grammage 102.00 g/m2 which was 0.02% higher than S com, the tensile properties presented young modulus 117.23 MPa which was 0.56% lesser than S com obtained from a microcomputer electronic universal material testing machine (product model: QL-5W) and the physico-chemical properties for water test were determined 750% absorptiveness which was. 96% higher than S com and humidity test was 15.69% absorptiveness which was 0.34% lesser than S com. These results follow TAPPI T 494, T 404, T 441, T 502, T1210, and ISO 1924, 3781 norms. The study investigates whether soda-pulp blends of pineapple leaf fibres (PLF) and elephant grass stem fibres (EGSF) can replace wood pulp in hard-cover binding paper. Twelve handmade sheets (S1 - S12) with varying PLF/EGSF ratios and CaCO3 additions were fabricated and benchmarked against a commercial 100 g/m2 paper board. Chemical composition, grammage, density, tensile properties and water/humidity absorptiveness were measured according to TAPPI and ISO standards. Specimen S8 (predominantly EGSF) showed grammage, Young’s modulus and absorptiveness closest to the commercial reference, indicating technical feasibility.