Experimental Study of Blended Pineapple Leaves and Elephant Grass Stems Fiber Pulp for the Production of Hard Cover Binding Papers

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.