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Paper production using Acacia auriculiformis leaf

Conference Paper in AIP Conference Proceedings · May 2021

DOI: 10.1063/5.0044201

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Paper production using Acacia auriculiformis
leaf
Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 2339, 020081 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0044201
Published Online: 03 May 2021

Mohammad Abdullah, Rohah A. Majid, Siti Nurul Ain Zaiton, Muhammad Muzamil Mustam, Ahmad Khuzairi Khalid,
and Hairul Amiza Azman

AIP Conference Proceedings 2339, 020081 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0044201 2339, 020081

© 2021 Author(s).
 Paper Production Using Acacia Auriculiformis Leaf
Mohammad Abdullah 1,a), Rohah A Majid2, Siti Nurul Ain Zaiton3, Muhammad
Muzamil Mustam4, Ahmad Khuzairi Khalid5 and Hairul Amiza Azman3
1
Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Johor Branch, Pasir Gudang Campus,81750 Masai,
Johor, Malaysia.
2
Bioprocess and Polymer Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia, Skudai, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
3
Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Johor Branch, Pasir Gudang Campus, 81750 Masai,
Johor, Malaysia.
4
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Johor Branch, Pasir Gudang Campus, 81750
Masai, Johor, Malaysia.
5
Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences,, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Johor Branch, Pasir Gudang
Campus 81750 Masai, Johor, Malaysia.

Corresponding author: a)moham3767@uitm.edu.my

Abstract. The pulp and paper making industry is looking for new main raw material based on its physical, chemical and
morphological characteristics. Currently in this industry, bagasse is the most useful raw material in pulp and paper industry.
The objective of this study is to determine its suitability for pulping. Acacia auriculiformis is a fast-growing tree normally
found in Indonesia and Australia. Acacia auriculiformis leaf contains of cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignin. The range of
lignin content in Acacia auriculiformis is 19%-20%. The hemi-cellulose and lignin contents was removed by soda-pulping
process using different concentrations as followed; 3%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. In order to determine the optimum pulping
conditions for Acacia auriculiformis craft paper, several tests were conducted such as apparent density, tear test, tensile
strength test and moisture absorption. It was found that the Acacia auriculiformis fibre treated with 3% sodium hydroxide
(NaOH) solutions gave good tear test of the paper. For apparent density test, the best concentration of NaOH used for
treating Acacia auriculiformis pulping is at 15%. From the study, the optimum concentration of NaOH in treating Acacia
auriculiformis fibre is at 5% for best result in tensile strength. Hence, from the overall tests, 5% concentration of NaOH is
the optimum value. From the findings, Acacia auriculiformis fibre has a potential to be used in paper making and food
packaging industry.

INTRODUCTION
Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunn. (ex Benth) is one of acacia genus, commonly known as Australia wattle, Akash
mono in Bengali, earpod wattle (1842), is fast-growing tree, an evergreen tree in the family Fabaceae. A. auriculiformis
A. Cunn (ex Benth) aboriginal to Australia, India, Thailand and Indonesia also has been planted in Southeast Asia,
China and African countries [1]. It has moderated size which grows between 15 m - 30 m tall. The thick main stem of
the tree predicted to 12 m long and 50 cm in diameter. The tree leaves which is narrowly oblong usually thick and
slightly curved with 10 cm – 16 cm long. The tiny, creamy yellow flowers are 8 cm long and sweet fragrance. A.
auriculiformis A. Cunn (ex Benth) has wide pods sized about 6.5 cm × 1.5 cm, flat, initially straight but much twisted
in irregular coils and hard almost woody.
A preliminary study has shown that this plantation-grown trees meets the lower possible requirements for certain
nutrients. It is less suitable for high yield mechanical type pulps [1]. There is possible way to predict both pulp yield
and paper strength. It is to evaluate all wood properties. However, this way takes time and costly. Immediate pulping
trials are costing a lot of money, slow procedure and demand a pretty large quantity of wood chips.

Proceedings of Green Design and Manufacture 2020

AIP Conf. Proc. 2339, 020081-1–020081-7; https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0044201
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-4091-3/$30.00

020081-1
 The use of paper is very important for people nowadays. For example, implement for writing paper, packaging,
household, newsprint, tissue paper and other products. The early source for the production of paper was mainly from
rags, (recycled fibre from used textiles). As the time flies, the process of paper making were modified using various
raw materials involves wood as the primary raw material for pulp and paper industry. Not only woods are used for
production of paper, coconut husks, palm tree leaves and also banana leaves was also use for research in production
of paper [2]. For this case, the production of paper is from acacia auriculiformis leaf. This is because, acacia leaf have
characteristics fibre most suited for making paper and fast growing tree.
The process of paper making involves three elements such as pulping, paper making and finishing. Pulping is the
process of making pulp by crushing and pressing into soft material for manufacture of paper. Next is the paper making
process which includes further processes using water, energy, chemical and wood chips contain cellulose. Previously,
wood trees are used for the production of paper but then cotton and textiles are used for high quality of paper. The
production of paper using acacia leaf is eco-friendly paper since it can easily get and collected which only use brown
leaves fall from the acacia tree [3]. It will not harm the existing tree and in the other hand the leaves are used for
benefits purposes and not consume a lot of cost. The use of leaves as an alternative way may help to conserve the
environment compared to trees as it needs to cut down trees every year for high demands of paper.
The problem statement of this experiment to conduct research on making an alternative paper using waste paper
from freshly dry fallen leaves from acacia tree which is more eco-friendly. The objective of the experiment is to study
the effectiveness of production of paper using acacia leaf instead of using other leaf. Other than that, the aim is to
conduct research involving the strength of the paper made from waste and fallen leaves of acacia tree [4].

RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY

Materials
Acacia Auricurliformis Leaves

Dry acacia leaves can be obtained from fresh fallen trees nearby housing areas. Commonly known as Acacia
Auriculiformis which planted widely in tropical Asia and fast-growing trees.

Sample Preparation
Dry acacia auricurliformis leaves were collected and weighed about 3.5 kg using electronic balance. Acacia leaves
were then washed to remove undesirable element, rinsed, dried and heat in the oven until constant. Then, 1000 ml of
water was measured using 2000 ml beaker and weight of water is recorded. By choosing the concentration of NaOH
needed to be preparing, the weight of solid NaOH can be determined. Weight of acacia leaf is determined by using
solid to liquid ratio which is 1 part solid NaOH and 15 part liquid of water.

Pulping Process

For pulping process 1000 ml of water was heated until achieved temperature of 60°C to 70°C. Then, solid NaOH
was added into the beaker and slowly heated until achieved 100°C. When the temperature has achieved 100°C, dry
acacia leaves were added into the beaker. Acacia leaves with NaOH solution was heated for 30 minutes at constant
rate of temperature 70°C. Lastly, the pulp was washed, rinsed and dried using sieve. The steps were repeated using
different concentration of NaOH for 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. The reason of doing varies concentration is to get the
best concentration.

Paper Making

Next step will be the paper making process. After drying the pulp, the pulp must be ground into small pieces. The
small pieces of pulp was put on a web like tray shape of a paper and soaked in water for a while. The paper then was
dried at least a day before putting it inside the hot press machine which function to press the paper flat for an even
surface area. After that, the paper was tested with the tear test, apparent density, moisture absorption and tensile
strength.

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 Tear Test

The tear test was conducted to measure the tearing resistance of paper. The tearing strength test of paper was
describe as the mean force needed to continue the tearing of paper that it is subjected to. Figure 1 shows the shape of
paper used for tear test. The instrument used to evaluate tearing test is the Elmendorf tear test. The resistance of paper
depends on several factors such as the degree of fibre refining, the quality and quantity of material used and the fibre
length. The fibre orientation of the sheet and the strength of fibre are marked as the most important factors to be
considered in tear testing. To increase the tear strength, longer fibres are an optional due to its ability to distribute the
force over more fibres and bonds compare to short fibres.

FIGURE 1. Shape of paper used for tear test.

Apparent Density

From apparent density, the thickness of paper was determined for each sample. To measure the thickness of paper,
reading digital calliper was used for this principle method. This method was found to be adequate for testing the paper
without compressing the surface of paper. Hence, to get the accurate thickness of paper, each sides of paper was
measured and the average thickness was recorded. Apparent density was described as the mass per unit volume.

Moisture Absorption

This test was used to determine the rate of moisture absorption towards acacia paper. The sample was heat in a
oven for 30 minutes to dry the paper. The absorption was measured by placing the sample in a container contain of
potassium sulphate to stabilize the temperature so that the temperature will not be affected by the surroundings. The
paper is weighting every 15 minutes until it achieves equilibrium.

Tensile Strength

Tensile strength described as a resistance of material to break under tension. Tensile strength was conducted to
measure the sample needed to ruptured within the force apply according to the suitable recommendation conditions.
The machine was known as universal testing machine. A total of 5 sample with varies concentration was cut 30 mm
wide and 110 mm length and a clamp distance of 100mm, at a speed of 25mm/min, strain rate 25-5mm/min and load
at 2.2N. The testing was measured to obtain break force, peak force, time to failure and time to peak.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Physical Appearance of Acacia Craft Paper

Figure 2 showed the acacia papers in different concentration of NaOH. As the concentration of NaOH increases,
the colour and pigment of the paper becomes darker and dull. This is due to content of lignin.

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 3% 5% 10%

15% 20%

FIGURE 2. Sample of acacia paper.

Tear Test
Craft paper production from acacia leaves as a sample with five different concentration of NaOH. Figure 3
illustrate the tear index with different concentration of sodium hydroxide, (NaOH) which are 3%, 5%, 10%, 15% and
20% as a concentration in pulping process and shows decreasing trend in tear index for both acacia and bagasse. At
3% concentration of NaOH, the average tear index achieves the maximum amount which is 381.665 (mN/g/m²) while
at 20% concentration of NaOH, the average tear index achieve minimum amount which is 230.817 (mN/g/m²).
Furthermore, for 5% concentration the average tear index is 288.196 (mN/g/m²) followed by 10% concentration
285.665 (mN/g/m²) and 15% concentration 241.628% (mN/g/m²). This is because decreasing trend shown from the
graph can be due to uneven distribution of grind pulp in a tray during paper making process [4].
Moreover, this significant decreasing trend from Figure 3 could be due to thickness of paper and the fibre varies
by different concentration. Hence, the best concentration of sodium hydroxide is choosing based on the highest amount
of average tear index. The higher the average of tear index, the higher the tear resistance. The tear test depends on the
fibre length and the bond strength between the fibres. So, at 3% concentration of NaOH, the sample offers greater
resistance to tear since the sample have long fibres. As at 20% concentration of NaOH, the sample offers lower
resistance to tear since the sample have short fibres.
Results of paper production using bagasse were also shown in Fig. 3. Bagasse sample was used as control due to
it consists of high cellulose contentand commonly use as main ingredient for paper making. Hence, paper made from
bagasse was used to compare the results with paper made from acacia with paper made from bagasse. For the bagasse
results, the graph also shows decreasing trend in average of tear index. At 3% concentration of NaOH, the value of
average tear index was at maximum amount which is 402.007 (mN/g/m²) higher than paper made from acacia. This
shows that bagasse have higher percentage of fibres compared to acacia leaves. Furthermore, as at 20% concentration,
the average tear index for bagasse was recorded lower than acacia which is 195.188 (mN/g/m²). From the discussion
stated, bagasse and acacia shows almost the same characteristics for paper making criteria. Both sample have fibre
content suitable to make paper due to higher cellulose content but differ in cellulose content. When compared with
the apparent density result, the best concentration of NaOH for acacia and bagasse are 15% and 5%. By comparing
both result, it can be determined that by doing the tear test and apparent density give different optimum concentration
of NaOH.

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 Tear Index for Acacia and Bagasse
450
400

Average Tear Index

350
300

(mN/g/m²)
250
200 Acacia
150 Bagasse
100
50 Concentration of Sodium Hydroxide, NaOH (%)
0
3% 5% 10% 15% 20%

FIGURE 3. Tear index for acacia and bagasse.

Apparent Density
Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the graph of apparent density of acacia leaf and bagasse. Referring to the Fig. 4 and 5,
the highest value of apparent density is the best concentration of NaOH used in the pulping process Bagasse is use to
compare with the acacia as bagasse is commonly used in industry of paper making. From the graph, both increase
until it reach the highest point and then decreases. This means it reaches the optimum concentration of NaOH used
because after increasing the concentration beyond the optimum concentration, it reduces the value of the apparent
density.This explains the decreasing slope of the graph in Figs. 4 and 5. For acacia leaf, the concentration of NaOH
that is the best is at 15% while for bagasse is at 5%. Acacia leaf requires high concentration of NaOH while bagasse
requires less.

FIGURE 4. Apparent density of acacia.

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 FIGURE 5. Apparent density of Bagasse.

Moisture Absorption
The relation of moisture absorption rate with respect to exposure time is shown in Fig. 6 can be seen that moisture
absorption rate of Acacia auriculiformis craft paper sheet at 20% NaOH pulping process increased from 0 minutes to
15 minutes but decreased at 30 min and 45 min. The hydrophilic behavior of acacia fibers is mainly due to two factors:
their composition and their specific structure. The diffusion phenomenon is subjected to the ability of the polymer
molecular sites to establish hydrogen bonds with the water molecules. Acacia fibers have, components which have
polar groups and thus are responsible for absorbing moisture are cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin and lignin [5].
The moisture absorption rate at minutes of 15 is 23.53%. Moisture content is absorbed onto specific sites by
hydrogen bonding; the specific sites could be hydroxyl functions of amorphous cellulose and hemicellulose present
in acacia paper at 20% NaOH pulping condition. The moisture absorption rate at minutes of 30 and minutes of 45
decreases into 17.64%. This is due to saturated specific sites hemicelluloses and cellulose hydrogen bonding In
addition, Acacia auriculiformis craft paper treated with 20% NaOH solutions absorbed the lowest amount of moisture
compare to 3%, 5%, 10% and 15% NaOH. This is because during soda-pulping process, the hemi-cellulose which acts
as moisture absorbent is removed from Acacia auriculiformis fibre [6]. The higher the concentration of NaOH used
in treating Acacia auriculiformis, the more the hemi-cellulose is removed.

FIGURE 6. 20% sodium hydroxide pulping at high relative humidity.

Tensile Strength
From Fig. 7, shows the graph of tensile strength with different concentration of NaOH which are 3%, 5%, 10%,
15% and 20%. The graph indicates relationship between different concentration of NaOH and the force applied.

020081-6
 Tensile strength relates with force applied in Newton which the higher the forces applied, the higher the tensile
strength. This is due to higher cellulose content and fibre in acacia leaves. Basically, tensile strength is directly
proportional to cellulose content [7]. But then, Fig. 7 shows differ from other experimental result. The blue line
indicates the force needed to break the paper into two partitions. At 5% concentration of NaOH, the force applied to
the sample is at greater force compared to other concentration. This indicates that the tensile strength achieves at
maximum force at 5% concentration. Table 2 also shows that tensile stress to break the sample is at maximum amount
as tensile strength. Hence, at 5% concentration, this sample has high properties to withstand the paper from ruptured.
Furthermore, the force applied slightly decrease at 20% concentration which could be due to cellulose content in
acacia leaves. The lower the force applied to the sample, the lower the tensile strength. This shows that at higher
percentage of NaOH, the tensile strength becomes lower and the ability for the paper to break is faster and higher.
From Fig. 7, similar to amount of force applied, the tensile stress also indicates at minimum amount. The difference
of tensile strength results differ by various concentration of NaOH since the thickness for each paper also different.
However, at 3% concentration of NaOH, tensile strength is at optimum level which differ from results of tear test at
which 3% concentration was choose as the best concentration for paper making due to higher average tear index.
Hence, tensile testing is the important steps to test the mechanical strength of paper [7] to commercialize the paper for
various paper production such as packaging paper, writing, and also typing paper [4].

40
30
Force , N

20
10
0
3% 5% 10% 15% 20%
Percentage of sodium hydroxide, NaOH (%)

FIGURE 7. Tensile strength of acacia paper.

CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions can be drawn from the results and discussion. It was found that the Acacia
auriculiformis fibre treated with 3% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solutions gave good tear test of the paper. For apparent
density test, the best concentration of NaOH used for treating Acacia auriculiformis pulping is at 15%. From the study,
the concentration of NaOH in treating Acacia auriculiformis leaf is at 5% for best result in tensile strength. It can be
seen that for every result. Overall, the pulp produced from Acacia auriculiformis can be used in the production paper
and food packaging industry. It can be concluded also that different concentration of NaOH give different result in the
tear test, tensile strength and apparent density. Hence, from overall tests, 5% concentration of NaOH is the optimum
value for pulping process. For further improvement in the future, time taken in the pulping process can be increase to
get rid more lignin. Since each result give different best concentration of NaOH, the errors such as uneven distribution
of grind pulp in a tray when doing the experiment need to be controlled.

REFERENCES
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Tree Genet Genomes. 143–152 (2011).
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5. R. Yahya, J. Sugiyama, D. Silsia, and J. Gril, J. Trop. For. Sci. 22(3), 343–351 (2010).
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Abdullah and Jiun H Low, Chem. Eng. Trans. 63, 457-462 (2018).
7. Mohammad Abdullah, Soo Kum Yoke, Danial Nuruddin Azlan Raofuddin, Mohd Zaki sukor, Azmi Roslan, Siti
Mariam Mohamad Ilyas and Mohd Hanafie Yasin, Int. J. Eng. Technol. 7, 239-241 (2018).

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