Production of Paper Pulp from Groundnut Shells.

Abstract

Groundnut shells have been identified as a potential source for paper pulp production. Groundnut shells are composed of polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, and minerals. The polysaccharides present in the shells are mainly cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, which are essential components of paper pulp. The shells additionally contain other plant compounds, which include flavonoids, tannins, and phenolic acids, which provide beneficial properties to paper products.

The groundnut shell fibres possess good physical strength properties. The groundnut shells are an abundant agricultural by-product in the world with an estimated production of 230-300 g per kg of groundnut. Therefore, their reutilization presents great interest, since it would help solve the pollution problems originating from their disposal. The project was carried out to determine how much of the waste can be converted to useful paper pulp and assess how suitable and efficient this paper pulp from groundnut shells is for conversion into the final usable product: paper.

In addition to producing the paper pulp, the yield and properties; water retention value (value of how strongly water is bonded to the fibres), softness, smoothness, porosity of this pulp were examined to determine its viability for paper and paper products manufacture.

Based on the results obtained, the paper pulp obtained from the ground nut shells was of a high yield (1.738g and 1.745g). The pulp obtained from the first experiment was used to test the water retention value while the second paper pulp was used to test the porosity. The property tests revealed that the pulp had a low water retention value (0.131g) and had a high porosity (0.32607) with rough and scratchy texture. These properties made it best suited for tissue paper, paper towels, serviette manufacture and packaging material for food products.

The pulping should be done at low temperatures and higher cooking time to reduce lignin content in the groundnut shells allowing the fibres to have higher tensile strength and ensuring a lighter coloured pulp to reduce bleaching needed. For the use of groundnut shells in pulp production to be used, blends of groundnut sell pulp and other non-wood materials or recycled paper can be used since the pulp obtained from groundnut shells is insufficient on its own.