| Summary: | An integrated and feasible approach was proposed using the underutilized grass fibre
(stem) derived from Napier grass and sugarcane for paper production in this study. To enhance
paper strength, pre-hydrolysis and beating techniques have been used to improve the chemical
pulps and mechanical pulping process, respectively. Napier grass and sugarcane are promising
non-wood sources for pulp production, owing to their high cellulose and low lignin and extractive
content. With the additional mild alkaline pre-treatment to the mechanical pulping process, t he lig nin
content was greatly reduced. The results reveal that the mechanical pulping with alkaline pre-
treatment may indeed potentially replace the most prevalent pulping process (chemical pulping). As
evidenced by the paper strength properties, mechanical pulping is far more suitable for grass-type
biomass, particularly Napier grass, which had a folding endurance capability five times greater than
chemical pulping. Furthermore, the remaining high hemicellulose content from mechanical pulping
contributed to a high pulp yield, while also facilitating the fibrillation on the sugarcane’s laboratory
paper handsheet. The findings also demonstrated that the additional beating process from chemical
pulping causes the fibres to be drawn toward each other, resulting in a more robust fibre network that
contributes to good paper strength. Consequently, this work sheds new light on the development of
advanced paper derived from grass fibre.
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