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Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crasspies) was used as a renewable cellulose source to prepare nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC). Due to the porous structure and low lignin content of water hyacinth, a 10 min-treatment time using the high-speed homogenization was sufficient to disintegrate nanofibers. The average width of the NFC treated for 40 min was 16.8 nm. With longer treatment times, a slight decrease in thermal stability of NFC was found while no changes in the crystallinity index of NFC were detected. Moreover, paper was formed from NFC with respect to mechanical treatment times. Results showed NFC treated with longer treatment times could prepare the paper with lower pore sizes between adjacent fibrils and porosity, resulting in higher wettability and mechanical properties. The contact angle of the 40 min-treated NFC paper was 36.0° while this contact angle result could not be measured from the samples of 0 min-treated NFC due to occurrence of large pores between fibers. The tensile strength of the NFC paper with 40 min-treatment time was ~18 times stronger than that of the 0 min-treated NFC paper. Mechanical energy consumption of the high-speed homogenization used to disintegrate NFC was also compared to that of the industrial defibrillation techniques.

Non-wood fibers are projected as fast-growing resources and sustainable alternate materials to reduce deforestation and enhance efficiency in the pulp and paper industry. This paper addressed the paucity of data on the fiber morphological characteristics (Fiber Length, Diameter, Lumen Diameter, and Wall Thickness) and pulping properties (Slenderness Ratio, Rigidity Coefficient, Flexibility Coefficient, Runkel Ratio, Solids Factor, and Luce’s Shape Factor) for Silk Cotton, leaves and stalk of Elephant Grass and Sugarcane Bagasse found in Ghana, especially, as environmental variations may cause differences in regional data. Observed values for the studied parameters were within the suitable range for paper production and differed from those reported for other regions. Elephant Grass (stalk) and Bagasse that had higher values of Fiber Length (4101.42 ± 197.89 and 3960.20 ± 194.35 µm), Diameter (60.03 ± 1.82 and 59.85 ± 1.72 µm), Lumen Diameter (33.33 ± 1.76 and 35.97 ± 1.38 µm), Wall Thickness (13.35 ± 0.83 and 11.94 ± 0.55 µm), Slenderness Ratio (70.8 ± 4.2 and 67.2 ± 3.4), and Flexibility Coefficient (55.7 ± 2.3 and 55.7 ± 2.3) would perform better during paper production. They would exhibit good physico-mechanical properties suitable for manufacturing flexible, high tearing, elastic, dense, smooth, and well-formed papers with high tensile and bursting strengths. Silk Cotton may also produce good papers with low tearing index, well-bonded, rigid, bulky, and coarse textured.

Pineapple leaf fibers (PALF) were biopulped using Trametes versicolor, and the resulting biopulp was bleached with xylanase-enzymatic treatments. The biopulping was extensively described using determinations of fiber morphology, color, chemical composition, extractive content, and thermal stability using the structural characteristics determined by XRD and paper properties. The results showed that the chemical and enzymatic treatments shortened the fiber, almost to 50%, and the Kappa index decreased from 27 to 13. Cellulose and holocellulose contents increased from 65% to 74% and from 86% to 91%, respectively, but extractives, lignin (from 12% to 4%), pentosans (from 25% to 14%) and the crystallinity decreased from 58% to 67% in both chemical bleaching and further xylanase-enzymatic processing. Xylanase-enzymatic processing allowed us to obtain whiter (increased lightness color and decreased redness and yellowness tonality) and heavier paper, even though it presented decreased mechanical properties (decreased stress resistance, rupture length, tear resistance and index longitudinal tearing). The xylanase-enzymatic treatment with the best pulping and paper properties is when the biopulp is treated with a xylanase enzyme concentration of 0.04% (w/w).

Banana stem is a known alternative to wood for the production of pulp and paper. During the production of paper, it is extremely important to save costs and time while at the same time enhancing quality of produced paper. In the present study, paper was developed from banana stem fiber by optimizing its density. Response surface methodology (RSM) using Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to determine optimum blending parameters of the developed papers. The influence of banana stem fiber amount (250-1000 g), water amount (1-2liters) and blending time (5-10 min) on paper density was analyzed using software Stat-Ease 360, Version 13. The optimum conditions of banana stem fiber amount, water amount and blending time to achieve a density of 675.75 g/m3 were determined as 461.83 g, 1.31liters, and 8.53 min, respectively. ANOVA results revealed that the quadratic model best fits the density response, with blending time and banana stem fiber amount as the most significant model terms. Linear effects were more predominant than quadratic and interaction effects. The developed density model was in close agreement with experimental findings with an R2 value of 0.9748. Developed paper had cellulosic contents, with volatiles as high as 82.11%wb and 2.11%wb ash composition. Future works on thermal properties of paper are encouraged.