Abstract
Chitosan is a natural polymer gotten from shrimp and crab skeleton; chemical structure of chitosan is similar to cellulose where hydroxyl (OH) in glucose molecule in cellulose is replaced by amine (–NH2) in chitosan. From the chemical structure and its properties, chitosan can be used as a filler and adhesive to replace the traditional materials and it will improve several properties of papers such as to increase strength, reduce water absorption, increase smoothness, and probably anti bacteria and anti fungus of the papers. The use of chitosan in paper production can also reduce impact on environment, because chitosan is a natural polymer that is degradable. In this research, chitosan will be applied into paper processing to replace filler and also as an adhesive to increase the properties of the paper. The result shows that low molecular weight chitosan, 1%, can affect the decrease of water absorption property and increase paper strength and the smoothness of the paper. Key words: Chitosan, paper, water absorption, strength, smoothness, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA).
Highlights
Paper and carton are wrapping materials that are very versatile to break; they are produced from cellulose fibers which are renewable materials
Molecular weight of chitosan has an effect on treated paper properties
It may be concluded that the equilibrium stoichiometry reaction occurred between chitosan and cellulose paper in the sample treated with chitosan LMW
Summary
Paper and carton are wrapping materials that are very versatile to break; they are produced from cellulose fibers which are renewable materials. They have to consider the use of environmental friendly materials. Wrapping papers are used for food packaging, they have the required strength and they are resistant to water and grease (Butkinaree et al, 2008; Reis et al, 2013). Paper is often coated to increase its resistant to moisture, oxygen, aroma and grease with hydrophobic material such as paraffin wax and polyethylene (Butkinaree et al, 2008). Pulp cellulose contains more acid site because of the oxidation from polymer, or the presence of residue lignin or hemicelluloses that can be efficient to form ionic and hydrogen bonds based on PEI (Struszczyk, 2002; Hudson and Smith, 1998)
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