Waste and Biomass Valorization

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-020-01125-y

ORIGINAL PAPER

Paper Production from Mauritian Hemp Fibres

Noushra Shamreen Amode1 · Pratima Jeetah1 

Received: 31 October 2019 / Accepted: 13 June 2020

© Springer Nature B.V. 2020

Abstract
Purpose  The study examines the potential of Mauritian hemp (Furcraea foetida L.), a lignocellulosic non-wood biomass,
as a more environmental friendly substitute to virgin wood for printing paper production.
Methods  The best pulping method for Mauritian hemp was first investigated. A4 sized papers were then produced using 100%
Mauritian hemp fibres and mixtures of Mauritian hemp fibres with Elephant grass fibres and wastepaper. Using Standard
tests, the physical (thickness, grammage, apparent density, water absorbency) and mechanical (tensile strength, burst strength,
crease recovery, abrasion resistance) properties of the papers produced were evaluated and compared with those of an 80
gsm A4 commercial printing paper used as control. Lastly, internal sizing was done by adding different proportions of starch
to the paper whose properties were closest to the control (judged most printable) to investigate any property enhancement.
Results  Soda cooking with 12% Wt/V NaOH solution at a temperature of 90 °C for 90 min was found best for pulping Mau-
ritian hemp. The 100% Mauritian hemp paper had characteristics closest to the control, with apparent density 141.54 kg/m3,
water absorbency time 1.436 s, burst strength 0.323 kPa m ­ 2/g, tensile strength 10.97 Nm/g, abrasion resistance 37.5 cycles
before rupture and crease recovery angle 34.8°. Increasing the starch content from 10 to 40% caused the 100% Mauritian
hemp paper’s characteristics to increasingly approach those of the control, thus showing printability improvement.
Conclusion  The methodologies adopted for papermaking and testing demonstrated that Mauritian hemp is a suitable alterna-
tive to wood to produce good quality printing paper.
Graphic Abstract

Keywords  Mauritian hemp fibre · Printing paper production · Non-wood biomass · Mechanical properties · Physical
properties · Starch internal sizing

Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this
article (https​://doi.org/10.1007/s1264​9-020-01125​-y) contains
supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
* Pratima Jeetah
p.jeetah@uom.ac.mu
1 wood for producing printing paper. Mauritian hemp satisfies
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering,
University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius
Statement of Novelty
Environmental concerns and increasing scarcity of wood
engenders the need to shift from wood to non-wood biomass
for papermaking to meet the surging demand for printing
paper. Presently, no study has been undertaken to investigate
using non-wood Mauritian hemp fibres as a substitute to
the vital characteristics of raw materials for papermaking

13
Vol.:(0123456789)

which are high cellulose and low lignin contents. Positive
outcomes of the study would imply reduced dependency on
rainforests for wood and hence curbing of associated envi-
ronmental impacts. Also, Mauritian hemp thrives particu-
larly well in tropical climates prevailing in most developing
countries, thus, exploiting this non-wood biomass for paper-
making could bring important socio-economic benefits.
Introduction
Paper is a composite material comprising of a meshwork of
cellulosic fibres [1] that are extracted from vegetative bio-
mass by either chemical or mechanical means. Non-fibrous
materials like fillers are also added during the paper pro-
duction process to improve the end-use properties of paper.
Thus, the randomly arranged network of fibres and additives
gives rise to a porous structure [2] with characteristics that
make it useful for various purposes in the modern world,
hence causing it to be one of the most abundantly utilized
materials.
In fact, the annual global paper consumption is fac-
ing a constant rise and has been estimated to be a colos-
sal amount of around 400 million tonnes in the year 2018
[3]. The steady rise in global paper consumption has been
attributed to demographic growth, industrialisation and edu-
cational progress, especially in developing countries [4]. In
response to the growing demand of paper, paper production
also soared and a constant annual growth of 1.1% in paper
production is projected until the year 2030 [3].
The different types of papers currently being produced
globally include mainly printing and writing paper, wrap-
ping and packaging paper, tissue paper and newsprint [5],
amongst which printing and writing paper is the second
most utilized category, amounting to 26% of the total global
consumption [3]. According to Elias and Boucher [6], an
upsurge of 180% is projected to occur in the use of print-
ing and writing paper from the year 2010 to the year 2060,
which suggests that there is a dire need to meet the increas-
ing demand for this type of paper.
The raw materials used for paper production are required
to have high cellulose amounts, which is a criteria satis-
fied by lignocellulosic biomass that comprise of three major
components, namely, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin [7].
In effect, the higher the cellulose content and the lower the
lignin content in the biomass, the higher will be the paper
strength [8, 9] and hence the better will be its serviceability
[10].
At present, to fulfil the requirements of the pulp and paper
market, virgin wood is the predominantly used lignocellu-
losic raw material. In fact, according to FAO [11], the largest
use for virgin wood is for pulp and paper production, which
is associated with several environmental concerns, mainly
13
Waste and Biomass Valorization
deforestation. It has been estimated that worldwide, around
1.3 × ­1011 ­m2 of forests are razed annually and about 40% of
these are solely employed for paper manufacture [12]. The
main impacts of deforestation comprise of ecosystem disrup-
tion, loss in natural habitat which can lead to species extinc-
tion and global warming arising from the fact that around
15% of greenhouse gas emission is due to the destruction of
forests [13]. Besides, NGOs are pressurizing governments to
limit the number of trees fell as a means of safeguarding the
environment and this is bound to impact on the availability
and cost of wood for the pulp and paper industry [4].
Despite being an alternative to felling of trees for paper
production, paper recycling causes degradation of the paper
quality due to hornification [14], which indicates that paper
cannot be indefinitely recycled. Nonetheless, addition of
virgin pulp to wastepaper can counteract the reduced paper
strength/quality during the recycling process [15].
Due to the aforementioned reasons and the increasing
scarcity of wood materials, there is a need to shift from
wood to non-wood vegetal raw materials as an alternative
for pulp and paper production in order to meet the rising
demand on paper, particularly printing paper, whose demand
is estimated to surge by 180% in the years to come [6].
Matter-of-factly, a plethora of non-wood plant biomass,
which comprise of all vegetative biomass except those com-
ing from trees (excluding leaves), roots and bark [16], can
be employed for the purpose of paper production as a means
to curb the negative effects of using wood as raw material.
In addition to taking less time to grow and mature, non-
wood biomass offer the possibility of using less fertilizers
and water for irrigation as compared to wood [1]. Also, the
lignin content in non-wood biomass is lower than that of
wood, which implies that less harsh conditions in terms of
temperature and concentrations of chemicals, can be used for
the pulping of non-wood biomass, hence resulting in lower
energy and resource consumption while utilizing non-wood
biomass as raw material for papermaking in contrast to using
wood [17].
Mauritian hemp, with scientific name Furcraea foetida
L. (also known as Agave foetida L. Agave gigantea D. Dietr.
or Furcraea gigantea Vent.), is a Central American native
non-wood biomass whose leaves have been used as a source
of fibre for centuries [18]. Traditionally, Mauritian hemp
fibres, commonly known as ‘Aloes’ in Republic of Mauri-
tius, have been extracted using the water retting technique
and scotching machines and subsequently used to make
ropes and bags [19]. However, currently, the plant’s use in
Mauritius is majorly for ornamental purposes.
A study conducted by Manimaran et al. [20], has shown
that the cellulosic fibre content of Mauritian hemp is
68.35%, which is higher than that of wood having values
ranging from 40–50% [21]. In the same study, it was also
demonstrated that the lignin content of Mauritian hemp is
Waste and Biomass Valorization

12.32% [20], which is lower than that of wood (18–35%
[21]). There are few studies which have been conducted
using the Hemp which is scientifically known as Canna-
bis sativa L. and belongs to the Cannabaceae family [18],
however, it is completely different from the family of Mau-
ritian hemp as the latter belongs to the Agavaceae family
and Asparagaceae family [18]. The advantages of employing
Mauritian hemp (Furcraea foetida) over the traditional hemp
(Cannabis sativa L.) are summarized in Table 1.
The most recent study on the characterisation of Mau-
ritian hemp has been conducted by Manimaran et al. [20]
which revealed that the Mauritian hemp fibres comprised
of shallow pores that are responsible for making the fibre
surface rougher, thus plausibly contributing to enhanced
bonding, which is an important fibre property to ensure
strength in paper. Also, tensile properties of Mauritian hemp
fibres were found to be comparable with synthetic ones [20],
which means that they have high tensile strength, which also
contributes to paper strength. High crystallinity Index of the
Mauritian hemp fibres (52.6%) [20], also indicates that Mau-
ritian hemp has more crystalline than amorphous regions,
hence implying that its water absorbency will be fairly low.
These findings indicate that Mauritian hemp can prove
to be a promising source of raw material for pulp and paper
making as substitute for wood. Besides, Mauritian hemp is a
drought resistant crop that does not require any special care

Table 1  Comparison between Mauritian hemp and Cannabis Sativa for pulp and paper production. (Color table online)
Characteristic Biomass Significance/deduction
Mauritian hemp Cannabis sativa

Cellulose content Minimum value reported: 63% [98]
Maximum value reported: 80% [99]
Value reported for plant grown in
Mauritius: 79.8% [98]
Lignin content Minimum value reported: 4.8% [98]
Maximum value reported: 12.32% [20] Range: 17–19% (Shives) [100]
Crystallinity index 52.6% [20]
Range: 73–77% (bast fibres) [100]
48% (shives) [100]
Range: 2–5% (fibres) [100]
39% [65]
Mauritian Hemp has higher cellulose content
than Cannabis sativa in most reported
cases, thus, the yield of cellulose upon fibre
extraction should theoretically be higher
than that Cannabis sativa, hence it is suit-
able for paper production. Also, cellulose is
the desired component for paper production
and the higher its content, the better it is
[8]. Besides, it can be noted that the crop
from Mauritius contained one of the high-
est cellulose contents, thus demonstrating
that Mauritian hemp grown in Mauritius is
highly appropriate to be used for pulp and
papermaking
Higher lignin content of Mauritian Hemp as
compared to Cannabis sativa fibres indi-
cates that more resources in terms of energy
and chemical concentrations have to be
employed for delignification during pulping
of Mauritian Hemp as compared to Canna-
bis sativa fibres. Also, lower lignin implies
better paper quality in terms of strength and
resistance to discoloration. Therefore, it can
be inferred that this might be a disadvantage
of Mauritian hemp over Cannabis sativa
fibres for paper production. However,if
Cannabis sativa shives are considered, then,
Mauritian Hemp is found to be better for
paper production since its lignin content is
lower than Cannabis sativa shives
Mauritian hemp has higher crystallinity index
than Cannabis sativa. High crystallinity
index implies higher fibre tensile strength
and more resistance to water absorbance
[65]. High strength of fibres is related to
high paper strength and resistance to water
absorbency is related to good ink holdout
and thus good quality image during printing.
In this view, it can be deduced that Mauri-
tian hemp will be an appropriate choice for
producing good quality paper

13

for growth and it can also thrive well in eroded soils [22].
These aforementioned properties of Mauritian hemp gives
it a competitive edge over other types of non-wood biomass
like bagasse which is derived from sugarcane, a crop that
demands a certain level of care for adequate growth. Moreo-
ver, Mauritian hemp can be cultivated in various tropical and
warm regions around the world since it can withstand a quite
wide range of temperatures (16 to 34 °C) [18].
However, while the use of non-wood biomass presents
several advantages, there are some drawbacks associated
with it, mainly in the form of high hemicellulose content,
which negatively impacts the ability of processing cellulose
[23] and causes paper strength, brightness and opacity to
be reduced [24]. Another prominent disadvantage of non-
wood biomass for pulp and papermaking includes the high
inorganic contents of such biomass which causes pulp yield
to be lowered upon fibre extraction [25]. High inorganics
(present mainly as silicates, oxalates, carbonates, calcium,
magnesium, manganese, iron, and potassium phosphate [26]
also contribute to high ash content of non-wood biomass,
which might result in lower strength and stiffness of papers
[27] due to high mineral residues in extracted fibres from
such biomass.
Nonetheless, various studies have sought to investi-
gate the pulp and paper making ability of non-wood bio-
mass primarily because of the several advantages it offers
as opposed to wood in terms of cost, high yielding ability
and high adaptability to existing climatic conditions [26].
Table 2 below summarizes some of such studies conducted,
their overriding aim, main findings and some criticisms of
each study.
As demonstrated in Table 2, previous studies focused
mainly on demonstrating the fact that it is technically fea-
sible to generate papers from non-wood biomass, but most
of them failed to show to which extent the papers generated
from these non-wood biomasses comply with the standard
physical and mechanical attributes of commercially pro-
duced papers. Also, [–30] chose non-wood biomasses with
comparable or lower cellulose contents than wood. Non-
28wood biomass with higher cellulose contents, like Mau-
ritian hemp, might be a better alternative to wood or other
non-wood biomass with lower cellulose contents in terms
of the amount of chemicals and energy required for pulping
[28].
Presently, no study has yet been carried out to investigate
the use of Mauritian hemp fibres as a more environmental
friendly substitute to wood for paper manufacture. Thus, the
overriding aim of this study is therefore to assess whether
it is technically feasible to generate a good quality printing
paper from Mauritian hemp fibres in an attempt to shift from
virgin wood for paper production.
To attain the aforementioned aim, the following objec-
tives were set:
13
Waste and Biomass Valorization
(1) Investigation of various pulping methods (Soda, Kraft,
water retting) to determine the most suitable one for
fibre extraction from Mauritian hemp.
(2) Extraction of fibres using the best pulping technique
determined for Mauritian hemp and generation of A4
sized papers (1) with 100% Mauritian hemp fibres, (2)
by mixing different proportions of Elephant grass fibres
with Mauritian hemp fibres and (3) by mixing different
ratios of wastepaper with Mauritian hemp fibres.
(3) Elephant grass fibre has been chosen to be added to
Mauritian hemp fibre for the production of a paper
composite as it is a non-wood biomass with high cel-
lulosic fibre content that has a short growth cycle and
that can be an inexpensive and environmental friendly
substitute for wood for papermaking [31]. In effect,
its use for pulp and paper production has already been
investigated wherein it was concluded that elephant
grass is highly suitable for pulp production [28, 31]
and for making writing and printing paper as well [32].
(4) The use of wastepaper together with Mauritian hemp
fibres to yield a paper composite investigates whether
Mauritian hemp fibres can be a suitable additive during
the recycling process of wastepaper.
(5) Evaluation of the physical and mechanical properties
of the papers produced through standard tests and com-
parison of the test results with a control (commercial
A4 80 gsm printing paper) made from virgin woods so
as to determine which paper produced had characteris-
tics closest to the control, hence implying that it is most
suitable for printing.
(6) Addition of starch to the paper whose properties
approaches the commercial control the most and per-
forming standard tests to gauge whether there has been
any amelioration in the end-use properties of the starch-
containing paper produced.
Materials and Methods
Biomass Preparation
The Mauritian hemp leaves were first cut and de-thorned
to avoid wounding of the hands, following which they
were thoroughly washed for dirt and impurity removal.
The washed leaves were then drained and naturally dried
to allow evaporation of water used in washing process,
after which they were cut into pieces of around 2  cm
long and 1 cm wide. The cut leaves were then dried in an
oven at a temperature of 60 °C until they were completely
devoid of moisture. The moisture-free leaves were sub-
sequently stored in a polyethylene bag to avoid moisture
re-absorption.
 Table 2  Studies conducted, their overriding aim, main findings
Study Non-wood biomass used Overriding aim Main findings Criticisms/Gaps

Chutrtong and Chutrtong [101] Coconut pulp
Investigation of coconut pulp as a
source of cellulosic fibre to replace
wood as raw material for chromatog-
raphy paper
Testing showed that the paper could be
used as stationary phase for chroma-
tography however future works are
needed to improve its efficiency for
use in sophisticated apparatus like
HPLC
The study used coconut pulp, which
requires additional chemical treatment
with hexane for fat extraction before
pulping as opposed to other non-wood
biomass that require only pulping for
fibre extraction. This implies additional
Waste and Biomass Valorization

costs and increased environmental

Jaffur and Jeetah [36]
Tripathi et al. [102]
Sibaly and Jeetah [35]
Pandanus Utilis (Vacoas Leaves) Assessing the use of fibres from Vacoas Low cost, printable and writing paper
leaves as substitute for wood for can be produced from Vacoas leaves
producing recyclable paper since the test results demonstrated
that laboratory produced Vacoas
handsheets met standards for paper
Bamboo (Melocanna Baccifera) Investigation of the pulp and papermak- The Bamboo species tested had very
ing properties of Bamboo similar cellulose and lignin contents
and bleachability as hardwood. The
handsheets produced from Bamboo
pulp had good strength properties
Pineapple leaves Assessing the suitability of using Papers made from 100% Pineapple
pineapple leaves to reduce reliance on leaves demonstrated the best physical
woody material for papermaking and mechanical properties and it
was concluded that even though no
additives were used in the papers, the
results were satisfactory and can be a
good substitute for wood
burden if coconut pulp is to be used for
paper-making on industrial scale
While the outcomes of the study seem
promising with respect to paper pro-
duction, it did not demonstrate how far
the test results obtained are comparable
to industrially produced papers made
from wood. The study claims that the
papers produced from Vacoas leaves
meet the Standards for paper, but no
benchmarking was done to show how
far the standards for paper are met
While the Cellulose content of Bamboo
(52.78 ± 0.8) [102] reported in the
study is higher than wood (40 to 50%
[20], it is much lower as compared to
other non-wood biomass like Mauritian
hemp (68.35% [20]; Pandanus Utilis
(70% [103]; Coconut pulp (59% [101])
The study did not provide a conclusive
remark on whether Bamboo was suit-
able for papermaking and for which
type of paper Bamboo will be most
suitable as raw material
The study only demonstrated the paper
making ability of pineapple leaves
without stipulating for which type of
paper pineapple leaves will be better
suited to be used as raw materials. No
comparative analysis was made with
industrially produced papers to show-
case to which extent the claim made in
the conclusion is true

13


Table 2  (continued)
Study Non-wood biomass used Overriding aim Main findings Criticisms/Gaps

13
Ramdhonee and Jeetah [29] Banana fibres Investigation of the use of Banana fibre It was shown that banana produced
as an eco-friendly raw material for papers with satisfactory attributes
wrapping paper production even without the use of additives
normally employed in papermaking
industrially
Sinha [30] Khar grass Investigation of the feasibility to pro- Khar Grass demonstrated high holocel- The study showed very promising out-
duce pulp and paper from Khar grass lulose and low lignin contents, which
due to increased scarcity of wood are desirable properties for papermak-
ing
High tensile and burst strengths and
good fold endurance of papers made
from Khar grass showed its suitability
to be used for making writing and
printing paper of average grades
Madakadze et al. 28 Elephant grass and Switchgrass Evaluating the potential of Elephant The study demonstrated high
grass and Switch grass as replacement α-cellulose content, low Klasson
for conventional raw materials for lignin content, high Kraft pulp yield,
pulp and paper making short fibres and high amounts of
fines for both Elephant grass and
Switchgrass, which implies that these
biomass could be a suitable alterna-
tive for printing paper production
In this case as well, the authors did not
provide a benchmark for comparison to
show to which extent the banana papers
met the requirements of a typical indus-
trially produced wrapping paper
comes for printing and writing paper
manufacture from Khar grass, however,
for this study also, no benchmarking
was done, that is, the results of standard
tests were not compared with those
of industrially produced papers made
usually made from wood to support its
concluding claims
Also, even though the grammage used
(100 gsm) fell in the normal range for
printing papers (60 gsm to 120 gsm),
it is quite high and implies larger
quantities of pulp will be required per
tonne of paper manufacture, which can
impact on the cost
The study conducted only characterisa-
tion of the non-wood biomasses investi-
gated to conclude that these biomasses
might be suitable for printing paper
production. The study mentioned
only strength properties of handsheets
generated from these biomasses but did
not showcase other important physi-
cal and mechanical properties of the
handsheets that are relevant for printing
paper. Apart from strength tests, no
other standard tests relevant to paper
properties were carried out to actually
demonstrate the printability of papers
from these biomasses
Waste and Biomass Valorization
Waste and Biomass Valorization
Physico‑Chemical Characterisation of the Biomass
For the characterisation procedure, in order to obtain a rep-
resentative sample, the coning and quartering technique was
applied. This was done by arranging the biomass into a coni-
cal shape after thorough mixing, followed by flattening of
the cone into a circular pile. Then, the pile was divided into
four equal parts and the sample to be used for the characteri-
sation process was obtained by choosing a single quarter at
random from the divided pile.
Moisture Content Determination
The moisture content was determined using the oven-dry
method as per the ASTM: D 4442–92 [33] method (Method
B). A previously weighed amount of the Mauritian hemp
was allowed to dry to constant mass at a constant tempera-
ture of 103 ± 2 °C in an oven.
Ash Content Determination
Ash content of the biomass was determined according to the
ISO Standard 1762:2015 [34].
The moisture-free, prepared biomass was shredded to a
particle size of 0.5 mm and sieved to remove any over-sized
particles and about 3 to 4 g of the shredded biomass was
placed in a crucible and allowed to incinerate in a muffle
furnace at a temperature of 525 °C for a period of 3 h, after
which the crucible and the ash were allowed to cool before
being weighed.
Cellulose, Hemicellulose and Lignin Content Determination
The cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin contents were
determined using the Acid Detergent Fibre method, which
comprises of 3 broad steps namely, NDF determination,
ADF determination and ADL determination as per the ISO
13,906:2008.
Pulping
The pulping process is done to extract fibres from the bio-
mass which are then used for the paper-making process.
As previously mentioned, the Mauritian Hemp was pulped
using 3 techniques, namely soda pulping, Kraft puling and
(sea)water retting to determine which pulping technique
works best for this particular biomass.
Soda Pulping
The alkali concentration used in this study was based upon
previous studies that used between 4 to 15% Wt/V alkali
concentrations [35–40]. An investigation was made whereby
the alkali concentration was varied from 15 to 12% Wt/V
with decrements of 1% Wt/V to investigate the effect on
the yield and it was found that the 12% Wt/V concentration
gave the highest yield. This study however did not proceed
to further decrease the alkali concentration to investigate
the effect on the pulp yield since the yield changed very
insignificantly upon decreasing the alkali concentration. The
12% Wt/V NaOH concentration, inspite of being lower than
in some studies on pulping of non-wood biomass [35, 36],
represents a high alkali charge due to the high biomass to
liquor ratio used. This method, while giving a good quality
pulp for paper production, might not be suitable for chemi-
cal pulping on large scale due to the high alkali concentra-
tion, which will impact on the cost. This implies that further
investigations are required to evaluate the optimum NaOH
concentration for obtaining higher and best quality pulp
from Mauritian Hemp at lower alkali charges using the soda
pulping method.
To 100  g of the moisture-free oven-dried Mauritian
Hemp, 1000 mL of a 12% weight by volume aqueous sodium
hydroxide solution was added and the pulping was done at a
constant temperature of 90 °C for 90 min under atmospheric
pressure. The traditional solid to liquid ratio is maintained
between values of 1/4 to1/6, otherwise it causes the cost of
alkali recovery to be high. However, it is to be noted that
this solid to biomass ratio is usually used for conventional
biomass since it provides a satisfactory degree of delignifi-
cation for such biomass. For this study, such a high biomass
to liquor ratio (1/10) has been employed since it was not
possible to achieve the required delignification and cook-
ing with lower ratios. In fact, the amount of biomass would
not get impregnated properly at lower ratios. In effect, if
homogeneous impregnation does not occur at the right stage,
delignification would take place only at the surface of the
biomass while the center would be in shortage of chemicals
for proper delignification [41]. Subsequently, more liquor
had to be added to ensure adequate pulping. Therefore, even
if on a large scale the cost of alkali recovery might be high, it
should be noted that the prime focus of the pulping process
is delignification to recover fibres, which is to be optimized
through an adequate biomass to liquor ratio for a particu-
lar biomass, which was found to be 1/10 for this particular
study. Generally, high biomass to liquor ratios achieve better
delignification as it renders the cooking process more homo-
geneous and enhances the diffusion of ions which are then
able to work against concentration gradients [42], however
it entails high cost for the pulping process.
After the cooking time of 90 min, the beaker and its
contents were allowed to cool at room temperature and the
pulped Mauritian Hemp was then separated from the black
liquor by filtration using cheesecloth as the filtering medium.
The residue, which is the Mauritian Hemp fibre, was then
washed abundantly with distilled water until all the alkaline
13

solution used for cooking was neutralised. A pH meter was
used to ensure that the pH of the water being drained from
the washing process is neutral and once the reading of the
pH meter stabilised at 7, the washing process was stopped.
The pulp obtained was then manually screened by removing
uncooked fibres and the screened pulp was mechanically
beated in a blender using enough water to sustain the pro-
cess. Finally, the beated Mauritian Hemp fibres were allowed
to dry to constant mass at a constant temperature of 60 °C
in an oven.
Kraft Pulping
The conditions used for Kraft pulping were the same as
those proposed by Arsène et al. [43] for the Sisal plant,
which belongs to the Asparagaceae family like the Mauri-
tian Hemp. 1000 mL of a solution comprising of 25% weight
by volume of sodium sulphite and 9% weight by volume
of sodium hydroxide was added to 100 g of moisture-free,
oven-dried Mauritian hemp leaves and the pulping was car-
ried out at 170 °C for 2 h after which the remaining steps for
cooling, filtration, washing, manual screening, mechanical
beating and drying were the same as those of the soda pulp-
ing process.
Retting
Two retting processes, namely, the freshwater and seawa-
ter retting, were investigated. For the retting process, the
biomass is simply soaked in water at room temperature and
pressure (ambient conditions) until the fibres are separated
from other constituents of the biomass due to natural deg-
radation. In this study, the volume of water was added in
the same proportion as in the study conducted on seawater
retting of hemp by Zhang et al. [44], which was equivalent
to a ratio of biomass to water of 1:25.
After around 12 weeks, the retting process reached com-
pletion and the Mauritian hemp fibres could be recuperated.
The fibres were then separated from the water through filtra-
tion using a cheesecloth, following which they were washed
with distilled water and filtered again to drain any wash-
ing water. The fibres were then oven-dried to constant mass
similar to the soda pulping process.
Pulping of Fibres to Generate Paper Composites
Once the best pulping method for Mauritian hemp was deter-
mined, it was used to pulp different ratios of elephant grass
and Mauritian hemp as well as waste paper and Mauritian
Hemp. The ratios used were 80:20, 60:40, 40:60 and 20:80
for Mauritian hemp to Waste paper and Mauritian Hemp to
Elephant grass as well.
13
Waste and Biomass Valorization
Laboratory Paper‑Making Process
The paper-making process was carried out as per the TAPPI
T 205 sp-02 [45] standard using a conventional sheet maker
without water re-circulation, whereby laboratory handsheets
of 80 gsm were formed for subsequent testing.
To produce the papers, an adequate mass of the oven-
dried, moisture-free pulp was weighed and soaked for around
15 min in water. The softened pulp was then mechanically
beated in a grinder to induce fibrillation so as to enhance
bonding during paper-making. The conventional laboratory
paper-making apparatus, which was fitted with a mould of
specific mesh size (125 μm [46]), was half-filled with water
and the previously prepared stock (mechanically beated
pulp) was poured into the apparatus. Then, water was filled
again until a height of 35 cm above the mould was reached
[45]. Using a stirrer with perforations, the pulp and water
were mixed in an up-and-down motion for a period of around
6 s to ensure uniform pulp distribution, after which the pulp
was allowed to settle on the forming wire (mould) [45]. Once
the settling was complete, the water was drained using a
valve. The mould containing the formed sheet was then
removed from the apparatus and placed on a felt material to
promote dewatering. Additional water removal was carried
out using sponges until the sheet could be unmoulded, fol-
lowing which the sheet was allowed to dry under ambient
conditions [29] for around 48 h.
Standard Tests used to Evaluate Printability
of Papers Produced
The pulps used for handsheet generation are highly hydro-
philic. This implies that the moisture content does not
remain constant in the handsheets. Therefore, the sheets
were conditioned as per ISO 187 [47] at 23 ± 3 °C and 50 ±
2% relative humidity prior to testing [29].
The Standard physical tests carried out comprised of
Grammage (T 410 om-08 (2013) [48]), Thickness (T 551
om-98 (1998) [49]), Apparent density (T 220 sp-01(2001)
[50]) and Water absorbency (ASTM D824-94 (2002) [51]).
The Standard mechanical tests carried out consisted of
Crease Recovery Test (AATCC test method 66–2008 (2008)
[52]), Burst Strength Test (T 403 om-97 (1997) [53]), Ten-
sile Strength Test (T 494 om-01 (2006) [54]) and Abrasion
Resistance Test (T476 om-16 (2016) [55]).
Investigation of Change in Properties Through
Addition of Starch
After carrying out the Standard tests mentioned in
Sect.  Standard Tests used to Evaluate Printability of
Papers Produced, starch was added to the handsheet whose
characteristics approached that of the control the most so
Waste and Biomass Valorization

as to test whether it further enhances its properties and Moisture Content

improves its printability.
Varying proportions of Tapioca starch as percentage of
dry mass of pulp used was added to the handsheet so as
to establish which proportion gave the highest degree of
characteristic improvement.
The methodology used for starch preparation was
adapted from Ali et al. [56]. Thus, for preparing the starch
additive whereby the dry mass of the starch made up 40%
of the mass of pulp used on dry basis for 1 handsheet
(~ 5.00 g), 2.00 g of tapioca starch was added to 100 mL
of distilled water. Similarly, for other starch additives with
different percentages of starch as a fraction of the dry mass
of pulp, different masses of starch were measured while
ensuring that the concentration of the starch produced did
not exceed 2% Wt/V, as shown in Table 3.
The starch suspension was continuously stirred for
15  min before heating it at a constant temperature of
90 °C for 30 min. During the heating also, continuous
stirring was pursued and constant temperature monitoring
was carried out. Before the cooked starch cooled, it was
quickly added to the pre-weighed pulp and the mixture was
blended in an electric blender. The blended mixture was
then immediately transferred to the paper-making appara-
tus for generating the handsheets as per the methodology
laid out in Sect. Laboratory Paper-Making Process.
Results and Discussions
Physico‑Chemical Characteristics of Mauritian Hemp
The physico-chemical characteristics of the Mauritian
hemp was analysed in an attempt to determine the extent of
its suitability for pulp and paper production. In effect, the
physico-chemical properties, especially the cellulose and
lignin contents, are good indicators for gauging whether a
biomass is worth being exploited for papermaking.
The experimental investigation demonstrated that Mauri-
tian hemp had 88.69% moisture, which is very high when
compared with wood, usually having a moisture content of
around 34% [57]. It can hence be noted that the moisture
content in Mauritian hemp is very high when compared with
wood fibres. This implies that the yield of biomass that will
be obtained on a dry basis for pulping and further process-
ing will be lower for Mauritian hemp as compared to wood.
For instance, for 100 kg of Mauritian hemp, only around
11.31 kg of dry biomass will be obtained for pulping, while
for 100 kg of wood, 66 kg of dry biomass will be available
for pulping. This might be a drawback in terms of dry bio-
mass productivity, since when considered on a large scale, a
larger amount of Mauritian hemp will have to be harvested
as compared to wood for the production of the same amount
of dry biomass for the pulping process and subsequently
for paper production. This result implies that the yield of
biomass that will be obtained on a dry basis for pulping
and further processing will be lower for Mauritian hemp as
compared to wood.
Ash Content
The ash content of Mauritian hemp has been found to be
9.08% which is much higher than that of wood, having a
typical ash content of around 2.31% [58]. The ash content
generally indicates the amount of mineral residues that stay
in the fibres used for papermaking. Thus, the ash content of
the fibres used to produce the pulp and paper will directly
impact on the ash content of the final paper produced [59].
In general, papers with low ash content are considered to be
of better quality than those of high ash content [25] since
papers with high ash content usually have lower strength
and stiffness as compared to those having lower ash contents
[27]. It can thus be inferred that the high ash content of the
Mauritian hemp fibres might have a negative impact on the
quality of paper produced from them.

Cellulose, Hemicellulose and Lignin Contents

Mauritian hemp leaves were found to have cellulose, hemi-

Table 3  Percentage by dry mass of starch added to Mauritian hemp
pulp cellulose and lignin contents of 68.60%, 11.37% and 14.67%
respectively. With respect to elephant grass, the cellulose,
Proportion of starch Mass of Volume of Concentration of hemicellulose and lignin contents were 42.95, 34.15%, and
as percentage of starch water used/ starch produced (%
dry mass of pulp used/g mL Wt/V) 20.49% respectively [60]. The cellulose content of Mauri-
used (%) tian hemp is much higher than that of wood (40 to 50%
[21]), which indicates that it is highly suitable for paper
40 2.00 100 2
production as the higher the cellulose content, the higher
30 1.50 75 2
will be the mechanical strength of the paper produced [8].
20 1.00 50 2
The low lignin content of Mauritian hemp (lower than wood
10 0.50 25 2
whose lignin content lies in the range of 18 to 35% [21])

13
 Waste and Biomass Valorization

also shows that it is a worthy biomass to exploit for paper
production, which requires low lignin content since lignin
is the chemical that causes paper to lose strength, undergo
rapid photo-discoloration and become brittle with time [9].
High lignin content is also often synonymous to requiring
extensive use of chemicals and energy for the pulping pro-
cess. The hemicellulose content of Mauritian hemp is also
low, which is a desired property for papermaking since high
hemicellulose contents cause reduced strength, opacity and
brightness in paper [24], which all engender deterioration in
printing paper quality.
Pulp Yields Obtained for the Different Pulping
Methods used for Fibre Extraction from Mauritian
Hemp
Table 4 shows the results obtained for the pulp yields of
Mauritian hemp for each of the pulping techniques adopted.
It should be noted that the pulp yields were determined on a
dry basis, after screening to remove rejects.
From Table 5, it can be observed that the Kraft pulping
gave the lowest yield thus, this method was deduced to be
unsuitable for fibre extraction from Mauritian hemp. The
higher concentrations of chemicals and temperature used
Table 4  Pulp yield variation with pulping method for Mauritian hemp
Pulping technique Pulp yield, (%)
Kraft pulping 17.80
Soda pulping 20.00
Freshwater retting 21.80
Seawater retting 20.40
for Kraft pulping as compared to the other pulping methods
investigated might have contributed to fibre degradation,
hence higher loss of fibres were incurred using this pulping
technique. In effect, Berggren et al. [61] reported that par-
tial degradation of hemicellulose occurring during the Kraft
process is the main cause of the lower yield noted. The low
pulp yield can be explained mainly in terms of high rate of
delignification and dissolution of hemicellulose in the pulp-
ing liquor [20]. It should be noted that while high pulp yield
might be very desirable as far as the cost is concerned, very
often high pulp yield is obtained at the cost of pulp quality,
whereby the residual lignin in the pulp might be too high
for the production of good quality paper. In this case, large
amounts of lignin and hemicellulose were removed, which
implies that the pulp obtained is of good quality for paper
manufacture as lignin and hemicellulose are detrimental to
paper quality. If large amounts of lignin are removed prior
to bleaching, it might imply that less extent of bleaching is
required, which might thus save on bleaching costs.
The yield obtained in this study using soda pulping and
after washing and screening is 20%, which is low as com-
pared to wood biomass but comparable to the yields of non-
wood biomass obtained in previous studies. For instance,
Khan et al. [62], obtained yields ranging from 19 to 41%
for soda pulping of Banana Pseudo stem, depending on the
cooking conditions; Wutisatwongkul et al. [37] obtained an
optimum pulp yield of 21.29% using soda pulping of pine-
apple leaves and Alagbe et al. [63]obtained a pulp yield of
25.7% for the chemical pulping of rice husk. Nonetheless,
since usually cooking conditions, and in particular alkali
charge, affect the pulp yield [62] further investigations are
required to determine the optimum soda pulping conditions
for Mauritian Hemp as this study only investigated the best

Table 5  Paper properties of papers produced from 100% Mauritian hemp fibres extracted using different pulping methods and comparison with
paper properties of a control
Properties (mean Paper types
values)
100% Mauritian 100% Mauritian 100% Mauritian Hemp 100% Mauritian Control (Commercial
Hemp fibres extracted Hemp fibres extracted fibres extracted using Hemp fibres extracted 80 gsm A4 printing
using soda pulping using Kraft pulping freshwater retting (100 using seawater retting paper)
(100 HS) (100 HK) HFW) (100 HSW)

Apparent density (kg/ 141.54 108.87 69.27 104.71 800

m 3)
Water absorbency 1.436 1.253 2.377 3.039 1441.2
time (s)
Crease recovery (o) 34.8 68.2 70 45 23
Burst strength (kPa 0.277 0.155 0.0771 0.0578 0.409
­m2/g)
Tensile strength 10.97 1.58 0.292 No value obtained 59.28
(Nm/g)
Abrasion resistance 37.5 17.5 10 5 122.5
(no. of cycles before
rupture)

13
Waste and Biomass Valorization
pulping method for Mauritian hemp amongst soda, kraft and
(sea) water retting and the conditions used for concentra-
tion of chemicals, pulping temperature and pulping time
used, were based on previous studies [35, 36, 43, 44]. There
was also a large amount of cellulose degradation that has
occurred which might have been due to the soda pulping
conditions not being optimum for this particular biomass.
Even though the water retting processes gave the highest
yields, it was observed that the fibres generated by both the
freshwater and seawater retting techniques were more rigid
and lacked flexibility and when used for handsheet forma-
tion, the pulp does not settle well in the apparatus and the
sheets formed had rough and uneven surfaces whose textures
did not match those of a printing paper at all. Therefore, this
method was deemed unfit for pulping of Mauritian hemp for
making printing paper, even if the yield obtained was higher.
Hence, the soda pulping technique has been found to be most
suitable for fibre extraction from Mauritian hemp and this
method has been adopted to pulp the mixtures of Elephant
grass-Mauritian hemp and Mauritian hemp-wastepaper as
well.
Mechanical and Physical Tests of Papers Made From
100% Mauritian Hemp Fibres Using the Various
Pulping Processes
Table 5 below shows the results obtained for the Standard
mechanical and Physical tests conducted on papers made
from 100% Mauritian hemp fibres using the soda pulping,
Kraft pulping and fresh and seawater retting processes.
It can be noted that the 100 HS paper has the high-
est apparent density amongst the papers generated which
implies that the fibre bonding was better when only Mau-
ritian hemp fibres pulped using soda cooking were used to
make the papers as compared the other pulping methods. For
the 100 HFW and 100 HSW, the low apparent density can
be explained in terms of poor bonding ability of the stiffer
fibres, which means that they have low conformance, hence
leading to poor formation [64] and low apparent density
[65]. Low density implies low bonding area [65], thus it can
be hypothesized that the fibres of the 100 HK paper did not
bond adequately. This might be attributed to poor mechani-
cal beating of the Kraft pulp which led to poor fibrillation,
hence the stiffness of the Kraft fibres remained too high for
adequate bonding. Therefore, it can be deduced that the 100
HS paper will be better suited for printing as compared to
all the papers generated from the other pulping methods
which is indicative of good tensile properties and can thus
be inferred to be the most resistant to breaking of page webs
as earlier mentioned [66].
The 100 HSW paper had the highest water absorbency
time, which implies low water absorbency rate as compared
to the 100 HS and 100 HK papers. This might have been
due to lower loss in crystallinity during the retting process
since no harsh chemicals or conditions of temperature were
used, thus making the fibres more hydrophobic than those
extracted using soda pulping and Kraft pulping, whereby
the chemical degradation of cellulose might have led to loss
in crystal structure, thus causing high fibre permeability to
water, leading to lower water absorbency times. It should
be noted that the retting process was found unsuitable for
printing paper made from Mauritian hemp despite the low
absorbency rates, which are closer to the Control than that of
the 100 HS paper, since the texture of the handsheet formed
was highly non-uniform and fibrous. However, the 100 HS
paper has a higher water absorbency time as compared to
the 100 HK paper. This can once again be attributed to bet-
ter preservation of the crystal structure of cellulose during
soda pulping as compared to Kraft pulping since less harsh
conditions are used for the former, thus leading to increased
hydrophobicity of the 100 HS paper. Therefore, it can be
inferred that the 100 HS paper will be better suited for print-
ing purposes as far as the water absorbency test results are
concerned. It should also be noted that the Control has a
very high water absorbency time as it contains additives and
coatings that make it water resistant, unlike the papers gener-
ated in the study.
The 100 HFW had the highest crease resistance since
its crease angle recovery was the highest with a value of
70° while the 100 HS had the lowest crease crease recovery
angle. The 100 HK and the 100 HSW papers also have very
high crease resistances as compared to the 100 HS paper.
The deviation of the crease recovery angle of the 100 HS
paper from the Control is in fact only 33.9%, which is much
lower than the crease recovery angle deviations of the 100
HSW, 100 HK and 100 HFW papers from the Control. These
results suggest that the 100 HK, the 100 HFW and the 100
HSW papers will not be suitable to be used as printing paper
as their crease recovery angles departed highly from that of
the Control.
It can also be deduced that the 100 HS paper has the
highest Burst Index, and hence has better strength and bond-
ing ability as compared to the other 100% Mauritian hemp
papers. A plausible explanation is the less harsh chemical
pulping used for soda cooking as compared to Kraft pulping
since the extreme conditions of temperature and high chemi-
cal concentrations used during Kraft pulping might entail
high rate of carbohydrate dissolution, disruption in cellulose
crystal structure as well as depolymerisation of cellulose,
which might all lead to lesser extent of fibre bonding, and
hence low paper strength [67]. For the fresh and seawater
retting processes, the fibres generated were long and rigid
and even after size reduction, the pulp would not settle well
in the papermaking apparatus hence leading to the forma-
tion of a paper with highly rough surface that in fact shows
the inability of the fibres to bond properly [67], which is
13

directly related to the low strengths of 100 HFW and 100
HSW. These results once again confirm that the best pulping
technique for Mauritian hemp fibres for the purpose of paper
production is soda cooking.
The 100 HS paper has the best Tensile Index, indicating
that it has the highest tensile strength and hence the ability to
withstand a higher tensile force as compared to 100 HK and
100 HFW before rupture. The Tensile Index of the 100 HS
paper is also the closest to that of the Control. Soda pulping
generates a pulp with lesser extent of chemical degradation,
thus higher cellulose content, than Kraft pulping (for the
Mauritian hemp fibres). It can also be said that high degree
of depolymerisation of cellulose [68] occurred during Kraft
pulping as compared to soda cooking process, thus leading
to lower tensile strength since cellulose content is directly
proportional to tensile strength [17]. These observations also
lead to the inference that the delignification efficiency was
better in the soda cooking process as compared to the Kraft
method for Mauritian hemp since the tensile strength usu-
ally decreases with an increase in the lignin content [35].
As far as the 100 HFW paper is concerned, even though
no harsh chemical conditions were used for pulping, it was
observed that its Tensile Index is the lowest amongst the
three. The plausible explanation for this occurrence might
be due to insufficient mechanical beating due to the rigid-
ity of the fibres generated from the retting technique, thus
leading to lower extent of fibrillation and hence lower fibre
bonding, which in turn contributed to lower tensile strength.
It should also be noted that the tensile strength test could not
be conducted for the 100 HSW paper since the structure was
so fragile that it ruptured upon clamping in the apparatus,
before any elongation force could be applied. This leads to
the deduction that water retting (both fresh and seawater)
is not suitable for fibre extraction from Mauritian hemp for
paper making purposes.
It was also found that the 100 HS paper required the high-
est number of cycles to induce rupture as compared to the
other papers. This observation shows that the 100 HS paper
will be better suited for printing. Thus, it can be inferred
that the 100 HS paper also approaches the Control the most
in terms of number of cycles required for rupture (highest
amongst the 4), whereby the 100 HS paper demonstrated
better abrasion resistance.
Physical Properties of Papers Generated
before Starch Addition
Grammage
Grammage test was done to evaluate whether the handsheets
generated had grammages within the acceptable range for
printing paper. The mean grammage of the handsheets gen-
erated were found to be 78.7 ± 4.1 gsm. The deviation from
13
Waste and Biomass Valorization
the target grammage of 80 gsm is mainly because the appa-
ratus used was not a precise one, rather it was a manual
apparatus which comprised of several leaks that engendered
non-uniform losses each time pulp was fed to it to produce
the handsheets. In effect, even though excess pulp was fed
in the apparatus to account for losses, since the losses were
non-uniform, the exact amount of pulp that should be fed in
excess to counteract the losses to attain the exact grammage
of 80 gsm could not be precisely determined. Nonetheless,
all of the handsheets formed were within the range of accept-
able grammage for printable paper as per the Tappi Stand-
ard, which is from 60 to 120 gsm [35]. It can therefore be
deduced that the handsheets formed were suitable to be used
for printing purposes and for subsequent testing.
Thickness
Thickness test is done to gauge the suitability of the papers
produced for printing purposes as papers of inadequate
thickness can lead to jamming in printers [69]. Ideally, the
thickness of the papers produced should approach that of the
control for good printability.
In this case, the papers generated had a mean thickness
of 0.64 ± 0.09 mm, which deviated largely from the con-
trol having a thickness of 0.10 mm. This can once again be
explained by the fact that the apparatus was not adapted to
generate handsheets of 80 gsm having a thickness as low as
0.10 mm like the automated machines present in industries
since this apparatus was manually operated and had many
limitations which included non-uniform settling of pulp,
hence leading to non-uniform thicknesses. Moreover, the
process of calendaring which contributes to thickness reduc-
tion of papers produced industrially, has not been carried out
for the handsheets produced in the laboratory, thus explain-
ing the large deviation from the control.
Apparent Density
Apparent density also impacts paper printability to a large
extent whereby high apparent densities indicate good ten-
sile properties which implies higher ability to withstand
web breaks during printing [67]. Good printability is also
achieved with papers of high apparent density due to low
moisture permeability [70], which means high ink holdout
and hence good image quality [71].
Figure 1 shows that the apparent densities of Mauritian
hemp-Elephant grass papers were higher than those of Mau-
ritian hemp-wastepaper handsheets. It can hence be inferred
that there was better fibre-bonding [67] in Mauritian hemp-
Elephant grass papers than Mauritian hemp-Wastepaper
handsheets. It was however noted that the paper made
from 100% Mauritian hemp fibres had the highest apparent
Waste and Biomass Valorization
Apparent density (kg/m3) 160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
20% 40% 60% 80%
Percentage by mass of Mauritian hemp fibres in paper
Apparent density (kg/m3) of Mauritian Hemp and Elephant
Grass Composite
Apparent density (kg/m3) of Mauritian Hemp and Wastepaper
Composite
Apparent density of 100% Mauritian hemp paper
Fig. 1  Bar chart showing variation in apparent density with percent-
age by mass of Mauritian hemp fibres in the paper mixtures produced
density, which implies that fibre bonding was better when
only Mauritian hemp fibres were used for papermaking.
The control used had an apparent density of 800  kg/
m3 and the paper made from 100% Mauritian hemp fibres
approached this value the most, hence demonstrating that it
is more suitable for printing as compared to all other paper
mixtures generated in the study. However, the much larger
differences between the densities of the handsheets gener-
ated and the control is because the thickness of the control
is much lower than those of the handsheets formed in the
laboratory, so even though their grammages were compara-
ble to the control, their much larger thicknesses as compared
to that of the control led to a much smaller apparent density
since apparent density is inversely proportional to thickness.
This effect can also be attributed to the calendaring process
done on industrial scale where the papers are compressed
for a smoother finish, which then leads to lower thicknesses.
In the lab, the handsheets have not been compressed to high
pressures, thus explaining their higher thicknesses and lower
apparent densities for grammages comparable to the control.
Water Absorbency
The water absorbency test is governed by principles of
gravimetry [35]. The test determines the time taken for the
handsheets to absorb 10 μL of water in view of evaluating
their performance characteristics for printing. High water
absorbency is not desired for printing since it would imply
poor quality image due to low ink holdout even though the
ink drying time might be faster with higher absorbency rates
[71].
Figure 2 demonstrates that for both paper composites
produced, as the percentage of Mauritian hemp fibres is
1.6
Absorbency Time (s)
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
100%
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Percentage by Mass of Mauritian Hemp fibre
Absorbency Time for Mauritian Hemp-Elephant Grass
Composite (s)
Absorbency Time for Mauritian Hemp-Wastepaper
Composite (s)
Fig. 2  Variation of absorbency time with percentage by mass of Mau-
ritian hemp fibre in paper composites
increased from 20 to 100%, the water absorbency time
increased, hence showing that the water absorbency of the
papers decreased. The papers made from 100% Mauritian
hemp fibres thus had the lowest water absorbency (absor-
bency time of 1.436 s), which makes it the one closest to the
control (absorbency time of 1442 s) and hence most suitable
for printing purposes as compared to the paper mixtures.
A plausible explanation for these observations is that dur-
ing the soda cooking process, there was higher extent of
lignin and hemicellulose removal for the 100% Mauritian
hemp fibres as compared to all the other Mauritian hemp-
Elephant grass composites since hemicellulose has the
highest water absorbency capacity as compared to cellulose
and lignin [72] and also, removal of lignin reduces a fibre’s
affinity for water, hence reducing its water absorbency rate
[73, 74]. The Mauritian hemp-Elephant grass papers were
effectively more yellowish in appearance as compared to
the 100% Mauritian hemp paper, which demonstrates higher
lignin content, thus explaining the higher water absorbency
rate observed experimentally.
For the Mauritian hemp-Wastepaper composites, the
higher absorbency rates with increasing wastepaper com-
position can be explained in terms of the porosity of the
paper generated, whereby the higher the porosity of a paper,
the higher is its water absorbency rate [75]. Therefore, it can
be said that the porosity of the Mauritian hemp-Wastepaper
composites increases when the percentage of wastepaper in
them increases due to lower fibre content, which implies
lower density and hence higher porosity [72]. Also, it can
be inferred that there was poorer bonding in the papers with
increasing wastepaper proportions, thus leading to increased
void formation, which means higher porosity and hence
higher water absorbency rates [74].
13

It can also be said that there was higher loss of crystal
structure for the composites as compared to when 100%
Mauritian hemp fibres were used for papermaking, thus
leading to lower water absorbency of the 100% Mauritian
hemp paper. In fact, higher degree of crystallinity implies
lower water absorbency rates since fibres become more rigid
and more impermeable to water [76].
The difference between the absorbency time of the 100%
Mauritian hemp paper and the control produced industri-
ally is nonetheless extremely large since usually, when pro-
ducing papers on an industrial scale, sizing is done (both
internal and external), which is the addition of chemicals
and application of coatings which aim at reducing the water
permeability of the paper. However, in the case of the papers
generated in the laboratory, no sizing has been done.
Mechanical Properties of Papers Generated Before
Starch Addition
Crease Recovery
In the case of printing papers, a crease recovery angle of
23° as that determined for the control can be considered
fair since usually, if the paper needs to be folded after being
printed, deliberate creasing might need to be done to reduce
the fold resistance of the paper so as to prevent fold cracking
which might cause the printed material to seem unaesthetic.
The graph in Fig. 3 shows that for both the Mauritian
hemp-Elephant grass and Mauritian hemp-Wastepaper com-
posites, the crease recovery angle increases when the per-
centage of Mauritian hemp increases from 20 to 60%. At
60% Mauritian hemp fibre composition, both paper mixtures
experience the maximum crease recovery angle. The crease
recovery angle then decreases till it reaches a minimum at
the 100% Mauritian hemp composition, with the paper made
from 100% Mauritian hemp fibre having the lowest crease
recovery angle (34.8°), hence making its crease recovery
ability being closest to the control, which implies that it
is most suitable for printing, especially if the paper needs
to be folded after the printing process as low resistance to
creasing implies better ability to be folded, and hence lesser
probability of the occurrence of fold cracking [77] which can
render the printed paper unaesthetic.
The behaviour of the handsheets generated for crease
resistance can be explained in terms of elasticity of fibres.
In effect, the higher the modulus of elasticity of a material,
the stiffer it is, and the lower will be its ability to return back
to its original state after a deforming force has been applied
to it. The same analogy can be applied to the network of
fibres in paper, whereby, the stiffer the paper, the lower will
its crease recovery be. Hence, it can be inferred that the
100% Mauritian hemp paper had high stiffness since it had
the lowest crease recovery angle, which shows that it has
13
Waste and Biomass Valorization
80
70
Crease Recovery
Angle (degrees)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Percentage by mass of Mauritian Hemp in Paper
Crease recovery angle for Mauritian Hemp and Elephant Grass
Composite
Crease Recovery Angle for Mauritian Hemp and Wastepaper
composite
Fig. 3  Graph showing variation in crease recovery angle with per-
centage of Mauritian Hemp fibres in each paper composite
low capability to return to its original state after having been
deformed under a compressive load.
Burst Strength
The burst strength test is done to give an indication on the
ability of the samples to resist rupture. The higher the burst
strength, the better it is since it shows that the samples
will have good serviceability as printing paper. The Burst
Strength test is done as per the T 403 om-97 [53] TAPPI
Standard using an Eureka Bursting Tester.
Figure 4 demonstrates that for both the Mauritian hemp-
Elephant grass and Mauritian hemp-Wastepaper composites,
the Burst Index increases with an increase in the percent-
age by mass of Mauritian hemp fibres in the papers gener-
ated. It can thus be inferred that the higher the percentage
of Mauritian hemp, the stronger will the paper generated
be since more hydraulic pressure will have to be applied to
cause rupture of the paper. Furthermore, the burst strength
test is an amalgamation of the influence of both the tensile
strength and elongation [78] and this indicates that papers
with higher compositions of Mauritian hemp fibres will tend
to demonstrate higher tensile strength and low deformation
(elongation). The fact that increasing Mauritian hemp pro-
portion in the paper composites increases the Burst Index
suggests that the Mauritian hemp fibres have higher bonding
ability and good fibrillation during the pulping and mechani-
cal beating processes had occurred for the Mauritian hemp
fibres, which consequently engendered increased surface
area for bonding and hence resulted in better bonding char-
acteristics, thus leading to improved paper strength [65].
A second observation that can be made from Fig. 4 is that
when the percentage by mass of Mauritian hemp is increased
from 20 to 60%, the handsheets comprising of a mix of
Mauritian hemp and wastepaper had higher Burst Index as
Waste and Biomass Valorization
Burst Index (kPa m2/g) 0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0 Percentage by mass of Mauritian Hemp in paper
0 20 40 60 80 100
Percentage by mass of Mauritian hemp fibre
Burst Index for Mauritian hemp-Elephant grass
composite
Burst Index for Mauritian hemp-Wastepaper composite
Fig. 4  Variation of burst index with percentage by mass of mauritian
hemp fibres in paper composites produced
compared to those made from Mauritian hemp and Elephant
grass, however, at a compositions of 80% Mauritian hemp,
the Mauritian hemp-Elephant grass paper displayed better
burst strength. A plausible explanation for this observation
is that the extent of mechanical beating was higher for the
Mauritian hemp-wastepaper composites up to a percentage
of 60% Mauritian hemp fibres while for the 80% composi-
tion of Mauritian hemp fibres, the Mauritian hemp-Elephant
grass mix experienced better mechanical beating. Higher
extent of mechanical beating is often correlated with better
fibrillation and hence higher bonding ability of the fibres
which is synonymous to higher paper strength, subsequently
leading to enhanced Burst Index.
The paper with the highest Burst Index, having a value
of 0.323 kPa m ­ 2/g, is noted to be the one made from 100%
Mauritian hemp fibres which can also be explained by the
fact that the fibres constituting the 100% Mauritian hemp
paper had better bonding ability as compared to when mix-
tures of Mauritian hemp fibres and Elephant grass/wastepa-
per was used.
The burst strengths of all the handsheets generated
were lower than that of the control having a Burst Index of
0.449 kPa ­m2/g. However, the 100% Mauritian hemp paper’s
Burst Index deviated the least from the control as compared
to all the other composites, hence making it the most suitable
for printing since the higher the paper strength, the better its
quality and serviceability.
Tensile Strength
Tensile strength is useful for determining the ability of
papers to endure the different pressures during the printing
process and their capacity to withstand rupturing of paper
webs [67]. The tensile strength test is carried out using the
14
12
Tensile Index (Nm/g)
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
120
Tensile Index for Mauritian hemp-Elephant grass composite
(Nm/g)
Tensile Index for Mauritian hemp-Wastepaper composite (Nm/g)
Fig. 5  Variation of tensile index with mauritian hemp fibre composi-
tion in the papers generated
Universal Testometric Testing Machine as per the T 494
om-01 [54] TAPPI Standard.
From Fig. 5, an increase in Tensile Index is noted with an
increase in percentage by mass of Mauritian hemp fibres for
all the Mauritian hemp-Elephant grass and Mauritian hemp-
Wastepaper composites. For the Mauritian hemp-Elephant
grass composites, this can be explained in terms of the cel-
lulose content, whereby generally, the higher the cellulose
content of a biomass, the higher the tensile strength of the
paper generated from it [17]. Since the cellulose content of
the Mauritian hemp fibre is higher than that of the Elephant
grass fibre, the trend shown by the graph in Fig. 5 when
the compositions of Mauritian Hemp increased from 20 to
100% in the mix is justified. As far as the Mauritian hemp-
Wastepaper composite is concerned, it can be deduced that
there was better bonding when the percentage of Mauritian
hemp increased in the composite, hence leading to higher
Tensile Index. This is because when wastepaper is repulped
during the soda cooking process, there is some extent of
degradation which causes the tensile strength to be lowered.
In effect, Minor and Attala [79] have reported that there is
a major loss in the ability for fibre bonding for papers being
recycled since during the initial papermaking process on an
industrial scale, the drying phase induces the caving-in of
polysacharrides present in the paper onto one another, hence
making the fibres stiffer which then causes them to withstand
fibrillation when they are repulped, hence leading to lower
tensile strengths.
On comparing the trends in Fig. 5, it can be inferred
that better bonding was present between Elephant grass
and Mauritian hemp fibres than Wastepaper and Mauritian
hemp fibres since higher Tensile Indexes were obtained for
the Mauritian hemp-Elephant grass mix. Nonetheless, the
paper with the highest Tensile Index was found to be the
one made from 100% Mauritian hemp fibres, with a value
13

of 10.97 Nm/g. This implies that the 100% Mauritian hemp
paper is capable of enduring a larger tensile deformation
prior to failure as compared to all the other paper composites
generated. A plausible explanation for this observation is
that the 100% Mauritian hemp paper had the highest cel-
lulose content, thus leading to high tensile strength of the
handsheet. Other possible reasons for this observation might
include lower microfibrillar angle [80], good mechanical
beating leading to high extent of fibrillation and thus high
fibre bonding, low degree of fibre deformation in terms of
curls and kinks [65], low cellulose degradation during pulp-
ing and high fibre length [81].
All the handsheets generated had lower Tensile Indexes
as compared to the control having a Tensile Index of 59.28
Nm/g. The Tensile Index of the 100% Mauritian hemp paper
approached that of the control the most, hence making it
the most suitable for printing purposes as compared to the
paper mixtures produced. However, the percentage deviation
of the 100% Mauritian hemp paper from the control is still
very high, which can be explained by the fact that sizing
agents are used during industrial manufacturing of paper
which aims at increasing paper strength [82], which was not
the case for the papers made in the laboratory.
Abrasion Resistance
The abrasion resistance test assesses the quality and lifes-
pan of printing paper by indicating the extent to which
the paper material can withstand wear [35]. In this test, a
standard sample size of the papers produced is subjected
to continuous rubbing using an abradant (grade zero emery
paper) until the fibres constituting the material are physically
destroyed [83] and the paper gets ruptured.
With respect to the Mauritian hemp-Elephant grass com-
posites, it is observed from Fig. 6 that the most abrasion-
resistant paper is the one containing 40% Mauritian hemp
fibres, which required 35 cycles before being ruptured, hence
indicating that this composite will have the highest lifespan
as compared to the other ones. However, the pattern dis-
played by the Mauritian hemp-Wastepaper mix shows that
there is an increase in abrasion resistance with an increase
in the percentage by mass of Mauritian hemp fibres in the
paper composites, with the paper containing 80% Mauritian
hemp fibres being the most wear resistant. Thus, it can be
said that the serviceability of the papers will increase with
increasing Mauritian hemp fibres for the Mauritian hemp-
Wastepaper composites.
When comparing the trends of the Mauritian hemp-Ele-
phant grass and Mauritian hemp-Wastepaper composites in
Fig. 6, it can be noted that the former had higher abrasion
resistance than the latter, except when the composition of
Mauritian hemp fibres was increased to 80%.
13
Waste and Biomass Valorization
45
40
Number of Turns Required
35
30
for Rupture
25
20
15
10
5
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Percentage by Mass of Mauritian Hemp Fibres
Mean Number of Turns Required for Rupture for the Mauritian
Hemp-Elephant Grass Composite
Mean Number of Turns Required for Rupture for the Mauritian
Hemp-Wastepaper Composite
Fig. 6  Variation of mean number of cycles/turns required to rupture
test specimen with percentage by mass of Mauritian hemp fibres in
specimen tested
The 100% Mauritian hemp paper, however, is the most
abrasion resistant since it required the highest number of
turns before rupture as compared to the other paper com-
posites. This implies that 100% Mauritian hemp paper is
better suited for printing purposes since it has better fibre
bonding, longer lifespan and lower probability of printed
information being erased due to abrasion as compared to
the other papers produced [35]. Its mean number of turns
required for failure is also the closest to that of the con-
trol (which requires a mean of 122.5 turns before rupture).
Nonetheless, the deviation is very large between the 100%
Mauritian hemp paper and the control as many additives are
incorporated into papers produced industrially like the con-
trol, which contributes to increased hardness of the papers
and hence increased abrasion resistance since hardness is
inversely proportional to mass loss upon abrasion as stipu-
lated by the Archard equation [84].
Physical and Mechanical Properties After Starch
Addition
The first set of the Standard tests conducted on the papers
produced led to the deduction that the paper made from
100% Mauritian hemp fibres displayed characteristics that
approached the control the most, hence implying it would be
most suitable for printing purposes as compared to the paper
mixtures generated. Therefore, the results in this section will
be those of the Standard tests carried out on the papers gen-
erated from 100% Mauritian hemp fibres after the addition
of varying percentages of starch (10%, 20%, 30% and 40%
starch) in the papers so as to determine whether the physical
Waste and Biomass Valorization

and mechanical properties experienced improvement and the
extent to which improvement occurred.
Physical Properties of Papers After Starch Addition
The mean grammage of the papers produced from 100%
Mauritian hemp fibres was 77.0 ±10.4 gsm. Similar to the
case of papers generated without starch, the starch-contain-
ing papers also deviated from the 80 gsm grammage desired
due to pulp losses in the paper-making apparatus. These
results also demonstrate that the addition of starch has no
effect on pulp loss in the paper-making apparatus.
The mean thickness of the starch-containing papers
amounted to 0.5 mm±0.1 , which is smaller as compared to
the papers generated without starch addition. Nonetheless,
the percentage difference with the control is still very high
since the papers are not generated using the same techniques
as those employed on an industrial scale.
From Table  6, it can be noted that both the apparent
density and water absorbency of the 100% Mauritian hemp
paper increased as the percentage of starch increased. Thus,
the paper containing 40% starch has these two properties
closest to the control.
Increase in apparent density upon starch addition might
be related to the fact that the starch used acts as an inter-
nal sizing agent, which acts as a pore filling material [85],
thereby inducing a loss in porosity [86], thus increasing the
bulk density.
As far as the reduction in water absorbency is concerned,
it can be inferred that the starch added functions as an inter-
nal polymeric sizing agent whereby the positioning of the
hydrophobic groups in starch is directed towards the sur-
face of the paper near the end of the drying process, hence
causing a reduction in interfacial free energy which then
enhances the hydrophobicity of the paper [87].
Considering the results of the physical tests, it can be
deduced that starch addition enhances the printability of
the paper made from 100% Mauritian hemp fibres since it
increases its apparent density and reduces its water absor-
bency, both of which contribute to enhanced quality of
printed images.
Mechanical Properties of Papers After Starch Addition
From Table 7 it can be noted that upon addition of starch, the
crease angle recovery decreases, which implies the lowering
in the ability of the paper to regain its original state after
having been creased/bent/folded. It can also be observed
that the crease recovery angle becomes closer to that of the
control when starch is added to the papers, with the paper
containing 40% starch having the closest crease angle recov-
ery to that of the control. This implies that the creasing/
folding properties and stiffness of the papers generated from
100% Mauritian hemp fibres become closer to that of the
control upon starch addition. In this case as well, the obser-
vations can be explained by the fact that starch functions as
an internal sizing agent which increases the stiffness of the
papers formed and hence improves fold endurance [88]. In
effect, the paper stiffness is directly proportional to its elastic
modulus [89]. When starch is added to the paper, it improves
bonding in the paper structure by increasing the number of
hydrogen bonds in the material, which then enhances paper
strength [88]. Enhancement of strength implies an increase
in elastic modulus [90] thus improving the stiffness, which
means that the paper becomes more resistant to distortions
like bending and creasing [91] and after being creased or
bent, it resists being returned to its original state.

Table 6  Results for apparent density and water absorbency test after addition of varying proportions of starch to 100% Mauritian hemp papers
Physical properties Percentage of starch added Control
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Apparent density (kg/m3) 141.54 ± 0.23 147.70 ± 0.30 154.06 ± 0.51 157.63 ± 1.65 158.81 ± 2.15 800.00

Water absorbency time (s) 1.436 ± 0.21 2.055 ± 0.32 2.063 ± 0.25 2.220 ± 0.30 2.265 ± 0.09 1442 ± 7.76

Table 7  Summary of mechanical properties of 100% Mauritian hemp paper with varying percentages of starch
Mechanical properties Percentage of starch added Control
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Crease recovery angle (o) 34.8 ± 3.56 30.5 ± 1.02 30.2 ± 0.63 27.8 ± 0.60 25.6 ± 0.94 23.0 ± 3.71
Burst strength (kPa ­m2/g) 0.323 ± 0.065 0.332 ± 0.00 0.347 ± 0.00 0.363 ± 0.07 0.412 ± 0.00 0.449 ± 0.058
Tensile strength (Nm/g) 10.97 ± 0.14 13.12 ± 0.0018 13.44 ± 0.046 14.88 ± 0.041 17.58 ± 0.0091 59.28 ± 1.57
Abrasion resistance (no. of 37.5 ± 2.5 140 ± 5.0 145 ± 0.0 130 ± 5.0 145 ± 0.0 122.5 ± 2.5
cycles before rupture)

13

Table 7 also shows that the strength properties of the
papers improve with increasing starch amounts, with the
paper containing 40% starch having the highest burst and
tensile strengths, hence making it the paper having the
closest strength properties to the control used. Here also,
the starch added acts as an internal sizing agent and binder
which increases the paper strength. The paper strength is
in fact a function of the extent of fibre bonding as well as
the amount of bonds in the material [88]. The starch thus
increases the strength by increasing the number of bonds in
the paper since it is able to form hydrogen bonds with the
cellulose as it possesses hydroxyl groups, which are the enti-
ties causing the formation of such bonds in paper [88]. Also,
the starch improves bonding between adjoining fibres when
it makes contact with the fibres at the same instant [88].
Better fibre bonding is synonymous to reduced probability
of fibre shedding which is known to have adverse effects on
the quality of printing paper [92], thus, the addition of starch
will produce better quality printing paper.
For abrasion resistance, the trend in Table 7 shows that
the number of turns required for rupture increases consider-
ably when starch is added to the papers made from Mauritian
hemp fibres as compared to when no starch is added at all,
hence showing increase in abrasion resistance when starch is
added to the papers. The number if turns required for rupture
is seen to increase when the percentage by mass of starch is
increased from 0 to 20%, however, for the 30% starch com-
position, a decrease in the number of turns required for rup-
ture is observed, which increases again for 40% starch in the
paper. This trend suggests a discrepancy in the results for the
30% starch composition, which might have been due to more
roughness or unevenness on the surface of the 30% starch-
containing paper than for the 20% starch-containing paper,
hence making the 30% starch-containing paper less resist-
ant to wear since the cause of abrasion is surface non-uni-
formities [93]. The trend also demonstrates that the papers
requiring the most number of turns for rupture are the ones
containing 20% and 40% starch, whereby each experienced
rupture at 145 cycles.
In effect, starch addition is expected to increase the
abrasion resistance of the papers [94] as it acts as a binder
which together with causing an increase in paper strength by
increasing the extent of fibre bonding, also makes the paper
stiffer and enhances its hardness [95]. Hardness is in fact a
measure of the abrasive wear resistance [96], whereby the
Archard model suggests that the resistance to wear increases
with increasing hardness [84], thus, when starch is added,
hardness increases and abrasive wear resistance increases.
This explanation validates the observations for all the starch
compositions in the papers made from Mauritian hemp
fibres since a large enhancement in abrasion resistance was
observed upon addition of starch.
13
Waste and Biomass Valorization
These observations mean that starch addition make papers
better suited for printing since it increases wear resistance
which implies that the starch-containing papers will have
higher durability and hence retain the printed information for
a long period of time as there will be lower tendency for the
printed information to get erased due to abrasive wear [97].
It should be noted that the large deviations of the physi-
cal and mechanical properties of papers generated on lab-
scale in the study from papers produced industrially like
the control are mainly due to the methodology used in the
laboratory and the fact that industrially produced papers con-
tain many additives like waxes, sizing agents and binders
amongst others, that enhance their properties. The papers
produced in the laboratory for testing purposes did not con-
tain the additives used in the making of commercial papers.
Conclusions
In an attempt to analyse the feasibility of printing paper pro-
duction from Mauritian hemp fibres, it has been found that
the best fibre extraction technique for Mauritian hemp is the
soda cooking process at a concentration of 12% Wt/V, a tem-
perature of 90 °C, a cooking time of 90 min and a biomass
to liquor ratio of 1:10.
Standard tests carried out on papers made from 100%
Mauritian hemp fibres, a mixture of Mauritian hemp and
Elephant grass fibres and a mixture of Mauritian hemp
fibres and wastepaper showed that the 100% Mauritian hemp
papers had physical as well as mechanical properties closest
to an industrially produced A4 80 gsm printing paper used
as control, hence leading to the deduction that papers made
from 100% Mauritian hemp fibres are better suited for print-
ing purposes as compared to paper mixtures of Mauritian
hemp-Elephant grass and Mauritian hemp-wastepaper. This
finding was mainly attributed to the poor bonding ability of
Mauritian hemp fibres with Elephant grass and wastepaper.
Upon addition of tapioca starch to papers made from
100% Mauritian hemp fibres, major enhancement of
mechanical and physical properties could be noted. In fact,
increasing the starch content of the handsheets from 10 to
40% (on dry mass of pulp per handsheet) showed a general
increase in tensile strength, burst strength, abrasion resist-
ance, apparent density and resistance to water absorption,
hence demonstrating that the properties of papers made
from 100% Mauritian hemp fibres increasingly approached
those of the control. These results lead to the conclusion
that starch addition has a positive impact on papers made
from Mauritian hemp fibres and increases their suitability for
printing purposes. The main explanation provided for these
findings is that starch acts as an internal sizing and bonding
agent which improves fibre-to-fibre bonding of the papers.
Waste and Biomass Valorization
It can therefore be deduced that the methodologies
adopted for papermaking and testing ultimately leads to the
conclusion that Mauritian hemp is a suitable alternative non-
wood lignocellulosic biomass to wood for the production of
good quality printing paper.
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