The Effect of Chitosan Into Paper Properties in Papermaking.

Chitosan is natural polymer that has nontoxic, biodegradable and biocompatibility material. Chitosan has been investigated as papermaking additive to improve properties of paper such as physical and optical properties. The objective of the research was to investigate the effectiveness chitosan in papermaking process and to determine the effect of chitosan on properties of paper. Chitosan was added in papermaking process with different dosage 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2%. The efficiencies of Chitosan in papermaking can be obtained by measuring and analyzing of properties of paper, such as physical and optical properties. The increasing dosage of chitosan, will increase the physical properties of paper, such as tensile strength and decrease water absorption of paper, but will not influence the brightness of paper. The optimum concentration of chitosan used in paper in this study is 1.5%. The result shows that chitosan used in paper can improve the properties of paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]