PROPERTIES OF BAGASSE (PAPER MAKING)

Bagasse is Sugarcane residue left after extracting the juice.

 

For each 10 tonnes of sugarcane crushed, a sugar factory produces nearly 3 tonnes of wet bagasse. The wet bagasse typically contain 40 to 50% moisture. For paper and pulp production, it is normally stored wet in order to assist in removal of the short pith fibres, which impede the papermaking process, as well as to remove any remaining sugar.

 

A typical chemical analysis of bagasse might be (on a washed and dried basis)

  • Cellulose  45-55%
  • Hemicellulose  20-25%
  • Lignin  18-24%
  • Ash 1-4%
  • Waxes   <1%

Bagasse Fiber Length:  1.0-1.7 mm

Bagasse Fiber Width:    20  micron

 

Bagasse is an extremely inhomogeneous material comprising around 30-40% of "pith" fibre, which is derived from the core of the plant and is mainly  parenchyma   material, and "bast", "rind", or "stem" fibre, which comprises the balance and is largely derived from sclerenchyma   material. These properties make bagasse particularly problematic for paper manufacture.

 

image of bagasse        image of bagasse

 

More Info

  1. Sugarcane Bagasse Paper versus Wheat Straw Paper by Omar Omari, Marcus Cheung, Robert Chen, Hugo Chen

 


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