Biopulping by Ceriporiopsis subvermispora towards Pineapple Leaf Fiber (PALF) Paper Properties

Environmental awareness and depletion of the wood resources are among vital factors that motivate various researchers to explore the potential of agro-based crops as an alternative source of fiber material in paper industries such as writing, printing, wrapping, and packaging. Fibers from agro-based crops are available in abundance, low cost, and most importantly its biodegradability features, which sometimes referred as “ecofriendly” materials. This paper reports the biopulping of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) by Ceriporiopsis subvermispora towards the properties of its fiber and paper forms. The individual fibers were characterized having good tensile properties at 0.3% of fungus treatment and favourable structural properties as characterized by Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy. It was also shown that the PALF paper achieved desirable tear index value and uniform morphological observations compared to the conventional chemical pulping method. This new approach of pulping PALF finds applications in paper and packaging products which requires biofriendly characteristic and cost effective.