The Treated Rice Straw as Potentially Feedstock of Wood and Rice Straw Fiber Blend for Pulp and Paper Making Industry

The study aimed to describe the alkaline treatment advantage to remove ash component from natural rice straws. Most of the ash component in the rice straw is silica. High ash content is particularly harmful to cutting tools and to chemical to recovery systems in the pulp paper industry. In this study, the silica content has been removed simply through by immersion process in the 5% sodium hydroxide solution to obtain de-silicated rice straw. The study revealed the effectiveness of this alkaline process and the compatibility in commercial practice. The rice straw pulping is considered competitively to complement the global demand of raw material in paper production. Therefore, the treated rice straw plays an important role in providing raw material in the form of wood and rice straw blend feedstock for pulp and paper industry.