Manufacturing and Qualities ofPaperboard from the Mixture of Empty Oil-Palm Fruit Bunches and Pulp-Mill Sludge

Small-scle paper board industries in Indonesia that use sludge are mrrently faced with difftmlry in promrement continuiry of additional fibrous raw materials (partimlaly pulp and wastepaper) as the sludge mixfllre. On the other hand, empty oil-palmfruit bunches (EOPFB) as wastefrom palm-oilprocessing are abundantly potential offering ligno• cellulosic fiber sfllfft, which have not been utilized effectivefy hence sugg,esting their potential use in those paperboard industries. In relevance, EOPFB after beingchip pedwas experimentally cooked into pulp farpaper board, using semi-chemical hot sodaprocess in the semi-pilot scaledosed (pressurized)di gesterde signed qy the Centerfar &search and Developmenton Forestry Enfjneeri11g and Forest Product Processing, Bogor. Theprocess afforded the EOPFB pulpyield at 60. 17%.Further,paperboard sheet wasfamled in a lfllall-scalepaperboard industry.frotn the mixture of 50% EOPFB pulp and 50% pulp-mill sludge; and from. 100% EOPFB,each incorporarting the adjditives (i.e.5%clayfiller, 2% al11m rentention-agent,4% tapioca binder, and2% rosin-soap size). Pqysical and strength properties of thepaperboard.fron1 100%EOPFB and its mixture withpulp-mill sludge(50 : 50%, mpective!Y) were better than thoseprodltced qy the small-scale industry traditionally using the mixture of 50% sludgeand 50% wastepaper (but, without additives),and also satisfied the commercial-paperboard criteria. In addition, the surface of paperboard .from EOPFB pulp mixed with sludge (50 : 50% proportion)provided interesting visual impression rendering it mitablefar fancy/ art purposes (invitationcard, book cover, decorativepaperboard, attractive surfacepatterns, etc).This suggests the prospective use of ma11efactuti11gfancpy aperboard.from the mixture of EOPFB pulp mixed with pulp-mill sl1tdge, as alternative/ substutute raw material of the paperboard industry that uses the mixture of wastepaper and paper-mill slusge.