Abstract
This paper reports on pulping of hard fibres extracted from the leaves Of agave sisalana using sodium sulphite buffered with sodium carbonate as pulping chemical. The cooking was carried Out at 1680Cfor a cooking period of 6 hours, with varying chemical concentration, sodium sulphite to sodium carbonate ratio and fibre to chemical ratio. The results show thar boll! the pulp yield and pulp viscosity decæase with increasing chemi- cal concentration, whereas Kappa number of pulp decreases to a limit of about 16.45. Brightness increases significantly with an increase in the ra- rio of Na2S03/Na2C03. The pulp yield obtained indicated the following maximum strength indices: tensile index: 75.60 [Nm/gJ, burst index: 6.05 [kPa.m2/g] and rear index : 19.30 [Nnz2/kgI. These values are higher than those reported for bleached pine kraft pulp; that is tensile index: 50.52 [Nm/g], burst index: 5.77 [kPam2/gI and tear index: 18.91 [Nm2/kgI with a brightness of 81.0% [SO. These make sisal a promising candidate for non-wood pulping process
Recommended Citation
Katima, J. (1994). PULPING OF SISAL FIBRES: EFFECTS OF CHEMICAL CONCENTRATION, Na-zS03/Na2C03 RATIO AND FIBRE TO CHEMICAL RATIO. Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET), 18(1), 107-119. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.52339/tjet.v18i1.166
Publisher Name
University of Dar es Salaam