Development of Paper Production Process from Rice Straw by Mechanical and Biological Methods

Abstract

The objective of this research is to study the production process of paper from rice straw using mechanical methods combined with biological methods and to study the properties of paper from rice straw obtained from the production process. Rice straw from two types of rice, namely, jasmine rice RD15 and glutinous rice Khieo Ngu, will be selected to test the production of paper pulp by mechanical methods, namely, grinding by machine and boiling in a pressure vessel designed to be suitable for the application using a boiling temperature of 140 °C and a pressure of 361 kPa to reduce boiling time and save fuel. For the biological method, rice straw will be fermented with water containing microorganisms that decompose PD2. Then, the obtained straw pulp will be molded into paper and tested for properties. After testing, it was found that rice straw from jasmine rice RD15 can be used to produce paper from straw better because it gives more pulp. When the rice straw goes through the mechanical process and is soaked in water containing microorganisms PD2 for 30 days, it can be boiled in a pressure-controlled tank for 30 minutes. This method can reduce the boiling time of the straw pulp better than the production method using caustic soda, so it saves more energy. Where the length of rice straw pulp fibers is suitable to use at 33.4 mm, pulp weight 45 g, paper thickness 0.33 mm and using rice flour as a paper quality modifier, the maximum tensile strength of the paper is 142.1 N, with a tensile strength index of 58.42 N.m/g, increasing but water absorption is reduced to 75.58%, which has sufficient properties to be developed for compression molding into food packaging.