Potentials of agricultural waste and grasses in pulp and papermaking

Potentials of some agricultural waste and grasses were investigated. Potassium hydroxide from wood ash was used as alkali for pulping. Results from visopan Microscope showed that banana stalk has the highest fibre length of 2.60 mm and Bahaman grass has the least fibre length of 0.85 mm. Runkel Ratio (RK) for banana stalk, banana leaf, giant bluestem, gamba grass and bagasse was 0.8 (RK<1) while pineapple leaf and maize stalk have Runkel ratio of 0.9 (RK<1). Peel from maize cob and Bahaman grass have Runkel Ratio of 1 (RK=1). Calculated fibre derivatives indicated that the non wood raw materials were good in pulp and papermaking.