Industrial Crops and Products 21 (2005) 325–329

Upgrading of recycled paper with oil palm fiber soda pulp

W.D. Wanrosli a,∗ , Z. Zainuddin a , S. Roslan b
a Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia
b Pascorp Paper Industries Bhd., 28700 Bentong, Pahang, Malaysia

Received 6 September 2002; accepted 15 April 2004

Abstract

Recycled fibers, in comparison to its virgin counterpart, generally have reduced conformability and interfiber bonding capability
due to irreversible hardening or hornification of these fibers. The extent and reversibility of the reduction is dependent on the
original pulp type and on the papermaking process. Various methods are used to recover the lost potentials of the recycled pulp
such as mechanical beating, use of chemical additives, physical fractionation and blending; the latter being the subject of this
study using oil palm fiber virgin soda pulp as the upgrading strength material. With as little as 20% addition of virgin unbeaten
pulp and considerably lesser amount of ca. 10% of beaten virgin pulp is sufficient to completely restore the strength of the
recycled paper. The major mechanism of strength improvement is probably due to increase of interfiber bonding as a result of
substitution of inactive secondary fibers with active virgin fibers.
© 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Upgrading; Recycled paper; Blending; Oil palm fiber; Virgin fibers; Soda pulp; Tensile index; Tear index

1. Introduction ity and swelling capacity that is associated with the

In the processing of secondary fibers, the aim is
to reclaim as much of the original papermaking po-
tential as possible, which in turn is primarily affected
by the pulping (Howard and Bichard, 1992; Wanrosli
et al., 2001), refining (Laivins and Scallan, 1993) and
drying (de Ruvo and Htun, 1981) processes. In gen-
eral, the papermaking properties of the fibers deteri-
orate with extent of recycling. This behavior was at-
tributed to the degradation in fiber bonding as demon-
strated by Laivins and Scallan (1993). During a drying
and rewetting cycle, the fibers lost their conformabil-
∗ Corresponding author. Fax: +604 657 3678.
E-mail address: wanrosli@usm.my (W.D. Wanrosli).
phenomenon of irreversible hardening or hornification
of fibers as first introduced by Jayme (1944). It has
been suggested that hornification occurred when the
hydrogen bonds that were formed between cellulose
chains in the cell wall during drying resist being bro-
ken during the rewetting process, resulting in only par-
tial swelling since some chains remain bonded.
Although the effects of recycling on paper qual-
ity are known, a complete understanding of how to
recover or minimize the loss of recyclability of sec-
ondary fibers is not known. Different methods are used
such as mechanical beating and refining (Howard and
Bichard, 1992), use of chemical additives (Gurnagul,
1995), physical fractionation (Gottsching et al., 1989),
and blending (Szwarcsztajn and Przybysz, 1974). Each

0926-6690/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2004.04.026
326 W.D. Wanrosli et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 21 (2005) 325–329
method has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Blending of virgin pulp with recycled fibers is a phys-
ical upgrading treatment, which relies on the interac-
tion between the two types of fibers. Mills occasionally
use softwood fibers to impart additional strength to
papers made from recycled paper. Malaysia being the
largest oil palm producer generates massive amounts
of lignocellulosic residues. It has been reported that
during the recent past years, it has produced about 30
million tonnes annually of oil palm biomass, includ-
ing trunks, fronds, and empty fruit bunches (Anon,
1997), which are rich in fibers, and has yet to be fully
utilized. Hence, it is imperative that such fibers are to
be exploited to the maximum. This paper attempts to
investigate the potentials of these fibers as strengthen-
ing agents for upgrading the quality of recycled paper.
The effect of beating is also discussed.
Our earlier study (Wan Rosli et al., 1998) on chem-
ical pulping of empty fruit bunches (EFB) for pulp
and papermaking, has shown that the alkaline process
using sodium hydroxide alone appears to be the most
interesting when its pulping efficacy and its environ-
mental friendliness (in comparison with either sulphite
or kraft processes) are taken into account. Based on
such experiences, soda pulping has been adopted as
the process and EFB as the starting material for pulp
preparation.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
Oil palm pulp was prepared from fruit bunches of oil
palm after being sterilized and stripped of their nuts.
The resultant empty fruit bunches underwent mechan-
ical treatment to loosen the fibrous strands, and were
later washed, cleaned, sorted and dried.Recycled pulp
from Malaysia old corrugated board (MOCC) was ob-
tained from Pascorp Paper Berhad, Bentong, Pahang,
Malaysia.
2.2. Pulping
All prehydrolysis cooks were carried out in a 4 l
stationary stainless steel digester (without external
circulation mixing) manufactured by NAC Autoclave
Co. Ltd., Japan fitted with a computer-controlled
thermocouple. The conditions employed were as fol-
lows: liquor to material ratio 8:1; time to maximum
temperature −90 min; time at maximum temperature
−120 min; maximum temperature −170 ◦ C. At the
completion of the cook, the pulps were mechanically
disintegrated in a three-bladed mixer for 1 min at a
pulp consistency of 2.0% and subsequently screened
on a flat-plate screen with 0.15 mm slits, and stored
in plastic bags for further use. The κ number of the
resulting pulp is 20.
2.3. Handsheet making and blending
Both unbleached EFB and recycled pulps were
reslushed by first soaking the semi dried pulp at room
temperature for 24 h, followed by disintegration for
3000 revolutions in a standard laboratory British dis-
integrator. Handsheets of 65 ± 2 g/m2 were prepared
using the Standard British Laboratory handsheet
equipment. A series of blending experiments ranging
from 0 to 100% virgin pulp at intervals of 10% were
conducted. For beating trials, the EFB pulps were
beaten in a Lampen mill for 1000 revolutions as de-
scribed in Khairani (2000). Handsheet properties were
evaluated following the TAPPI standard methods.
3. Results and discussion
The effects of blending on the major papermaking
characteristics of various formulations are discussed
in terms of wetness, sheet density, tensile and tear
indices.
3.1. Effect on wetness
Wetness of pulps as measured by Schopper Riegler
(o SR) increases with addition of EFB pulp for both
unbeaten and beaten pulps (Fig. 1). The changes could
be explained in terms of the intrinsic properties of the
recycled fiber with respect to the virgin EFB pulp. Re-
cycled fibers are fibers that have undergone multiple
drying-rewetting cycles, during which they are stiff-
ened or hornified. As a result, their swelling capac-
ity is greatly reduced and water absorption is limited,
hence the observed low wetness. Upon introduction of
virgin fibers whose internal structure largely still re-
mains intact, swelling could take place to the fullest,
 W.D. Wanrosli et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 21 (2005) 325–329 327

Fig. 1. Effect of wetness on virgin pulp addition (EFB-U: unbeaten Fig. 2. Effect of density on virgin pulp addition.
EFB soda pulp and EFB-B: beaten EFB soda pulp).
density. The changes are due to the increased flexibil-
ity of beaten pulps, which allows the fibers to come
and as a consequence o SR increases. Furthermore, wa- into close contact, hence, more fibers per unit volume,
ter uptake of fibers is dependent on the number of ions as also observed by Koran (1994).
trapped in the fibers since swelling is driven by os-
mosis. The important charge groups in fibers are car- 3.3. Effect on tensile index
boxylic acids found in the hemicellulose components
(Sjostrom, 1989). In this respect, the total charge on The effect of blending virgin EFB pulp with recy-
virgin pulp is much higher than recycled pulps due to cled fibers on tensile index is shown in Fig. 3. It ap-
the removal of the hemicelluloses during the recycling pears that the virgin fibers could completely restore the
process (Wanrosli et al, 2002), contributing to the in- tensile strength of the recycled papers after only 20%
crease in wetness upon addition of virgin fibers. As addition, which could be due to the substitution of the
expected, beaten pulps gave higher o SR than the cor- passive recycled fibers with the more active fibers of
responding unbeaten pulps, which is probably due to the virgin pulp. As discussed earlier, virgin fibers were
the external and internal fibrillation that occurs during able to absorb water and swelled to a higher degree
the beating process and accordingly, increases the hy- than the recycled fibers. Swelling is an important fac-
drophilic surface area resulting in more water being tor in the development of paper strength by virtue of
absorbed, and subsequently increase the pulp’s wet- increasing fiber flexibility; the more flexible the fibers,
ness. the more their conformation can be altered that could
enhance interfiber bonding between themselves and
3.2. Effect on density the recycled fibers, thus increasing the tensile strength.
The inactivity of the recycled fibers is a consequence
Handsheet density is a good indicator of the con-
formability of individual fibers in the fibrous network
and thus a fair reflection of the fibers’ bonding poten-
tial. As evident from Fig. 2, the densities of sheets con-
taining both the unbeaten and beaten pulps increases
with addition of virgin EFB fibers. This increase is
postulated as due to the replacement of the more stiff-
ened recycled fibers with flexible virgin EFB fibers.
Hornification of the recycled fibers reduced the con-
formability of individual fibers in a fibrous structure
and as a result produced bulkier (or less denser) sheets.
It is obvious that the addition of beaten virgin EFB
pulps (EFB-B) is accompanied by a slight increase in Fig. 3. Effect of tensile index on virgin pulp addition.
328 W.D. Wanrosli et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 21 (2005) 325–329
Fig. 4. Effect of tear index on virgin pulp addition.
of the fibers undergoing processes such as rewetting
and drying, which reduce the capabilities of the fibers
to swell because of hornification. Szwarcsztajn and
Przybysz (1974) reported a similar finding and they
attributed it to the presence of more active fibers in vir-
gin pulp. The density plot (cf. Fig. 2) showed that the
fibers had become compacted as a result of blending
which increase the potentials of the fibers to form in-
terfiber bonding, and accordingly increasing the paper
strength. Blending with beaten fibers had a more pro-
nounced effect where even at a low addition of 10%,
the restoration is already completed (Fig. 3). This en-
hancement is ascribed to the increase in the bonded
area of the sheet resulting from internal and external
fibrillation that occurs during beating.
3.4. Effect on tear index
The observed effects of blending on tearing re-
sistance indicate a positive relationship as shown in
Fig. 4. Tear is a function of both fiber strength and
fiber bonding, and in this instance, the substitution of
the inactive recycled fibers with virgin active fibers,
has caused an increase of both of the parameters lead-
ing to improvement in tear index. However, it is inter-
esting to note that the effect of addition of beaten vir-
gin pulp is negligible. It is possible that the amount of
new active sites generated is not sufficient to increase
new interfiber bonding needed to further increase the
tear index.
3.5. Tensile–tear index relationship
The tearing resistance of paper handsheets, consid-
ered in conjunction with the tensile strength, is prob-
Fig. 5. Tensile–tear relationship.
ably the most commonly used direct measurement
of paper strength potential, as others have suggested
(Allison, 1992). Tearing resistance is a function of
both fiber strength and fiber bonding, though limited
by fiber strength. It is evident from Fig. 5 that both
tearing resistance and tensile strength increase with
pulp blending irrespective of whether the pulp is un-
beaten or beaten. This has been explained as a result
of replacement of the passive secondary fibers with
active virgin fibers, which has generated new sites for
interfiber bonding. The addition of beaten fibers has,
as expected, further enhanced the development of both
indices. It is however of significance to note that at
high tear strength, the improvement of tensile strength
effectively ceases at about 42 Nm/g high, suggesting
that no further bonding is occurring (tear continue to
rise due to the continuing substitution of poor bonding
material with virgin fibers).
4. Conclusions
Blending with EFB virgin soda pulps can consid-
erably enhance the strength of recycled MOCC. With
as little as 20% addition of unbeaten virgin pulp and
considerably lesser amount of ca. 10% of beaten vir-
gin pulp is sufficient to completely restore the tensile
strength of the recycled fiber. The major mechanism
of strength improvement is probably due to increase
of interfiber bonding as a result of substitution of in-
active secondary fibers with active virgin fibers. With
the addition of beaten pulps, the effect is even more re-
markable. This enhancement is ascribed to the increase
in the bonded area of the sheet resulting from inter-
 W.D. Wanrosli et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 21 (2005) 325–329
nal and external fibrillation that occurs during beating.
Tear has also a positive effect, but to a smaller degree,
to the extent that addition of unbeaten fibers has no
significance.
Acknowledgements
Financial support from the Malaysian Government
with cooperation of Universiti Sains Malaysia in the
form of IRPA grant 190/9606/3104 is gratefully ac-
knowledged.
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