Development of Paper from Luffa/ Cotton Fibre Blend

The increased awareness of the environmental impact posed by rampant destruction of trees for paper manufacturing has driven many paper and pulp mills to seek for alternative raw material sources, particularly plant fibres. The pulp and paper industry is ranked as the third most polluting industry in the world and as such, over the years more research has been conducted worldwide in a bid to curb its effects. This research was rooted on the development of paper from a blend of luffa sponge plant fibre and cotton plant fibre as an alternative to the wood fibres so as to reduce the rate of deforestation. Luffa and cotton fibres were independently pulped, bleached, and refined before being blended prior to paper sheet formation. Soda pulping process using sodium hydroxide was used to delignify the fibres while hydrogen peroxide was used for bleaching. The treated fibres were then independently refined and sieved so as to obtain uniform pulp consistency. Paper sheets were the produced from blending fibres together in luffa-cotton ratios of, 0:100; 20:80; 40:60; 50:50; 60:40; 80:20 and 100:0. Several tests were carried out on the resultant papers so as to compare their properties with that of the standard paper already in the market. The results indicated that an increase in the luffa fibre proportion in the luffa/cotton fibre blend produced paper whose properties were comparable to, and in most cases, exceeded that of standard certificate paper. From the experimental test results, it was concluded that a 50:50 ratio of luffa/cotton fibre blend produced paper with optimum values of grammage, thickness, tensile strength, bursting strength, opacity and brightness.