Sugarcane Bagasse Paper Reinforced by Cellulose Nanofiber (CNF) and Bleached Softwood Kraft (BSWK) Pulp

Abstract

This study explores the effects of bleached softwood kraft pulp (BSWK) as a conventional reinforcing material in comparison with cellulose nanofiber (CNF) as an emerging bionanomaterial on the bleached soda sugarcane bagasse (BSSB) paper furnish. Cationic polyacrylamide was selected as a retention aid along with the CNF addition to retain it on fiber surfaces during the papermaking process. The results showed that though the effects of CNF were similar to those of BSWK in the most of properties but there were some important differences which can industrially be noticeable. In one hand, both of cellulosic elements, when substituted for the BSSB at the 5 or 10 % levels, gave increases in the paper strength, i.e. samples containing 10 % CNF yielded similar tensile strength (53 N m/g) and a more consolidated structure (14 % increment of the density) than those produced with 10 % BSWK. CNF addition had opposite effects on the air-permeability of the resulting paper. Unlike BSKW, the addition of CNF had a strong favorable effect on tear strength, but it was markedly slowed the rate of drainage time when it was especially added at 10 % level of the final furnish.