METHODOLOGY Pulping of paper

Research Design Recycled papers were cut into smaller pieces

then soaked in a mixture of water and bleach
Four treatments and a controlled variable
to remove inks and other impurities. After
(C1) (standard bond paper) were used
which, the soaked paper was subjected to
throughout the experiment each with
Hollander Beater and Disintegrator for a
different ratios of Weeds:Paper and each
finer pulp.
with 3 replicates. The ratios of the different
treatments are 100:0(T1), 75:25(T2), Pulping of Cockspur grass
50:50(T3), and 25:75(T4). All the treatments
The samples were weighed with the total
underwent simple tests for paper such as
weight of 200 g per replicate of each set-up.
opacity, texture, ink flotation, solubility,
Overall, 1.1 kg of Cockspur grass were
flame test, and qualitative tensile strength
cooked. One batch for cooking and pulping
upon being subjected to water and salt
was 1 kg. The one-kilogram Cockspur grass
water. After the simple tests, the papers
was cooked in 100 grams of sodium
were compared to see which ratio resembles
hydroxide (NaOH) and 10 liters of water for
an ordinary paper the most. The experiment
two hours. After two hours, the cooked
was conducted at National Tobacco
Cockspur grass were drained and washed
Administration, Batac City for 2 days and
with tap water four times. After which, the
the papers were air dried in Alaminos City,
Cockspur grass were soaked in a mixture of
Pangasinan.
water and bleach with a concentration of 20
% to remove the color. The bleached
Cockspur grass were then subjected to
Acquisition of Materials
disintegrator and Hollander beater for a finer
The weeds were gathered at San Ildefonso, pulp.
Ilocos Sur. Those were cut into shorter
Sheeting and Drying Process
lengths of 30 cm. For the experimental set-
up, there were 4 treatments (100:0 Weesds: The Cockspur grass were removed out of the
Paper, 50:50 Weeds: Paper, 75:25 Weeds: Beater and were filtered again to remove the
Paper, 25:75 Weeds: Paper) and one control water then was weighed along with paper
(C) in total with 3 replicates each. with the ratio depending on which set-up.
The mixtures were submerged again in RESULTS
water. Before the sheeting process begins,
Grammage test
the mixtures were gently stirred to disperse
all the fibers on all sides. For the sheeting Table 1. Mean Grammage of different

process, soaked cockspur grass were spread treatments in g/m2

evenly onto an A4-sized molder. The T1 T2 T3 T4 C1

cockspur grass on a molder were subjected 77.74 99.14 106.37 92.41 80.00
to hydraulic press for 2 hours to remove g/m2 g/m2 g/m2 g/m2 g/m2
excess water and was air dried for 2 days for
further drying to produce fine papers. Table 1 shows the mean grammage of the
different treatments. The T1 has the lowest
Paper testing
Grammage while T3 has the highest. The T1
The produced papers were subjected to 7 also has the nearest grammage to the
different simple tests; namely, Grammage standard bond paper while the other three
test, Opacity, Texture, Ink Flotation, are close in numbers with a relatively high
Solubility, Flame test, and Qualitative grammage. The grammage of the treatments
Tensile Strength. For the qualitative tests were computed using the formula below:
(Opacity, Texture, Solubility, Qualitative
Weight of paper
Tensile Strength), the results were compared GSM =
Area of paper
between and among the treatments. After
which, the different treatments were ranked. Opacity

For the quantitative tests (Ink flotation and Table 2. Opacity of different
Flam test), the means of every replicate of treatments
each set-up were compared between and
T1 T2 T3 T4 C1
among the treatments.
80-90 ≥80- >T2 >T3 80-90
90

Opacity is ranged from 1-100 (Printing

Industry Exchange, 2001) with 100 as the
highest and Table 2 shows the Opacity of
the different treatments relative to the
standard bond paper which has an opacity Solubility
ranging from 80 to 90. The values are only
For the solubility test, there were two
in range and were only compared since
treatments: Water and Salt water. Three
resources for testing the Opacity was
replicates of each set-up with a size of 1’x1’
limited. C1 was the least opaque, followed
were soaked in both solvents to check for
by T1, then T2, then T3, then finally the
their solubility. After one hour, no paper
opaquest was T4.
was dissolved in both water and salt water.
Texture
Flame Test
The textures of the treatments were
Table 5. Means of flame test of different
measured qualitatively as every treatment’s
treatments
texture was compared to others. The trend
below summarizes the result for this test: T1 T2 T3 T4 C1
34.33 30.00 24.33 14.67 13.00
Roughest to smoothest: s s s s s

T1>T2>T3>T4>C1
Table 5 shows the means of the time it took
Ink flotation
for a piece of each set-up to be completely
Table 4. Means of ink flotation test of burned upon setting it on fire. T1 has the
different treatments longest period of time before being
completely burned while C1 has the
T1 T2 T3 T4 C1
3.97 s 3.73 s 2.6 s 1.77 s 1.17 s shortest. A trend was observed wherein
there is a positive correlation between the

Table 4 shows the means of the ink flotation amount of time needed to burn a certain

test or how long for the ink to fully cover the piece of paper to the amount of cockspur

reverse side of the paper upon dipping one grass present.

side. A trend can be observed wherein T1 Qualitative Tensile Strength

has the longest period of time while C1 has
Due to the lack of resources, tensile strength
the shortest. It was observed that the time
was only measured qualitatively. After
decreases with the amount of cockspur grass
soaking the papers from different treatments
present.
into water, tensile strength of the different
treatments was done by tearing the paper
with approximately the same force. In order
to verify the accuracy of the results, random
people tried to compare the strength of the
paper upon subjecting it to water and the
difference between and among the groups
was very prominent. T1 has the highest
tensile strength, followed by T2, then T3,
then T4, and finally the lowest, C1. A trend
was observed where those with more
cockspur grass have greater tensile strength.
DISCUSSION
Grammage test
Grammage test is the measurement of the
weight of paper per area. It is an important
parameter for it determines how thick a
paper is and it also affects other parameters
such as the opacity wherein the higher the
grammage of a paper, the higher its opacity
(Hahnemühle FineArt GmbH, n.d.). The
grammage of the paper also determines the
type of paper (Banana Print Blog, 2018).
Based on table 6, T1 and C1 fall under the
category of Low-grade photocopier while
T2, T3, and T4 fall under the category of
Letterheads. It was observed that the pure
treatments, both T1 and C1, have lower

Table 6. Examples of paper with grammage compared to the other three

corresponding GSM. Adapted from What Is treatments with mixed ratios.

GSM Paper? Everything You Need to Know Opacity

(Banana Print Blog, 2018) and Choosing the
Opacity is the parameter in paper which
right paper (Duport, n.d.)
describes the amount of light that passes
GSM Examples of paper through the paper. Opacity is significant
Lightest type
because it determines the show-through of
35-55 gsm Translucent tracing paper to
print on the reverse side of the paper;
newsprint.
Low-grade photocopier wherein the greater the opacity, the lesser

75-90 gsm Sketchpads or notebooks the show-through is. Less opaque papers are
more translucent; thus, the show-through is
Most types of household greater on the reverse side. This is not an
90-100 gsm Letterheads ideal characteristic of paper as it will cause
problems when both sides of the paper are
120-140 gsm Good quality letter head
210-300 gsm High quality flyers used. The standard bond paper with gsm 80
350-450 gsm Business cards has an opacity that ranges from 80-90
(Printing Industry Exchange, 2001). Based
on the results, both T1 and C1 have the
lowest opacity that ranges from 80-90
followed by T2, T3, then finally T4. The
opacity of the papers produced can be
explained by two factors; the grammage and
the composition.
Grammage.
As stated earlier, the higher the
grammage is, the opaquer a paper
(Hahnemühle FineArt GmbH, n.d.).
A positive correlation between
grammage and opacity has been
observed in this research wherein
treatments with relatively high
grammage (T2, T3, T4) are opaquer
as compared to those treatments with
lower grammage (T1 & C1).
` Composition
The second factor that determined
the opacity of the produced papers is
composition. Generally, papers are
composed of cellulose for structural
support. Cellulose is generally
translucent but becomes opaque
when stacked upon each other
(PrintWiki, 2015). Standard paper is
generally composed of 70 % organic
such as cellulose, and 30 %
inorganic such as TiO2 and kaolin
clay which are used for bleaching.
The 30 % composition of paper
enhances the opacity of paper
(Berube, R. R., Babiec, J. S., Jr.,
Jameson, M., Negele, A. R., &
Willis, M. J., 1991).
Based on the results, the T1, which is
100 % weeds, was the least opaque.
This can be explained by the fat that
T1 was almost entirely made of
cellulose, which as stated earlier is
translucent. The treatments with
mixed ratios (T2, T3, T4) are
generally opaquer because they
contain recycled papers which
contain chemicals that enhance
opacity. Although 100 % papers,
such as C1, contain the most
chemicals that enhance opacity, the
opacities of T2, T3, and T4 are still
greater. This is because of the
difference in terms of grammage
which was stated above.
Texture
Texture is the parameter of paper that
describes the roughness or smoothness of it.
It is a significant parameter as it determines
how strong the ink will hold onto the paper.
A paper that is too smooth would cause the
ink to smudge while a paper that is too
rough wouldn’t be comfortable for the user.
A trend was observed in this research
wherein the roughness has a positive
correlation with the amount of cockspur
grass present in the treatments. The more
cockspur grass made the produced papers
rougher because of the presence of relatively
larger pulps that are embedded in the paper.
The lesser cockspur grass there is and the
more recycled papers, the smoother the
papers get because recycled papers are finer
and do not contain any large pulps that
would add to the roughness of paper.
Ink flotation
Ink flotation test is done by dipping one side
of a paper into an ink then the time is
measured until the ink covers reverse side of
the paper. It is a significant parameter
because it tests the water resistance of paper
wherein the longer the time for the ink to
cover the whole reverse side of the paper,
the greater the water resistance. Based on
the results, T1 has the greatest water
resistance, followed by T2, then T3, then
T4, and finally C1. A possible explanation
for the said result would be the porosity of
the paper. Porosity is the measure of extent
to which the paper will allow liquid to pass
though it. More porous papers have lesser
water resistance. Based on the findings of
this study, it can be hypothesized that T1 is
the least porous while T 5 is the most
porous. A trend was observed wherein as
the amount of cockspur grass decreases, the
porosity increases and water resistance
decreases.
Solubility
All of the treatments were found to be
insoluble in both water and salt water. This
can be explained by the fact that paper is
made up of cellulose and cellulose is
generally insoluble in water. This is because
of its high molecular weight and its large
structure. Cellulose, having a beta-sheet
conformation, stack up on each other; thus,
hiding the Hydroxyl group which further
explains its insolubility in water.
Flame test
Flame test on paper is the measurement of
the time it takes for a paper of a certain size
to be completely burned. This test is
significant because papers are susceptible to
fire and may cause serious problems when
ignited. This test was done to see which
treatment would take the longest time to
burn. As for the results, it may be explained
by the composition of the treatments.
Qualitative tensile strength
Tensile strength is the resistance of paper to why T1 has the greatest tensile strength,
break while applying tension. This research foll2owed by T2, then T3, then T4, and
only conducted a qualitative approach on finally C1, which is pure paper and no
tensile strength due to the lack of Cockspur grass.
machineries to be used to quantitatively
measure tensile strength. As shown in the
results, a trend was observed wherein as the
amount of Cockspur grass decreases, the
tensile strength also decreases. This trend
can be explained by the composition of the
treatments. As stated earlier, standard paper
is generally composed of 70% organic (e.g.
cellulose, hemi-cellulose) and 30 %
inorganic (kaolin clay, TiO2) and the 70 %
part, the cellulose, is responsible for the
structural and mechanical properties of
paper. Papers becomes easily tear when
subjected to water because water disrupts
the hydrogen bonds in cellulose
(Wonderopolis, n.d.).

As for the results, T1 is purely made of

Cockspur grass and was not further
polished, meaning it is almost entirely
composed of cellulose, while the other
treatments were composed of Cockspur
grass and recycled papers, which are
generally composed of 70 % cellulose only.
As a result of having more cellulose, in
addition to having more mechanical and
structural support, there are more hydrogen
bonds for water to break; thus, explaining