A Study of the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Paper Made from Agave americana L. Fibers.

This article studies the influence of the pulping conditions of Agave americana L. [temperature (100-120°C), pulping time (60-120 mn) and soda concentration (4-8%)] on the pulp yield, kappa index, brightness, viscosity, and the hand sheets breaking length, tear index, and burst index. Responses of pulp and hand sheets properties to the process variables were analyzed using statistical software (Minitab 14). Pulp has been studied using a factorial design to identify the optimum operating conditions, equations relating the dependant variables to the operational variables of the pulping process were established. Results showed that acceptable physical and mechanical properties of pulps and paper could be achieved at 107°C, for 60 mn, and 6% of soda concentration. These are the most suitable conditions for obtaining paper sheets with a high breaking length and tear and burst indexes. Test sheets made from pulped agave leaf fibers were compared to paper made from other vegetable fibers (pine, agave tequilana, and eucalyptus fibers). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]