Abstract
The cultivation of agricultural crops results in the generation of agricultural byproducts. Researchers have reported that these materials can be useful in a variety of applications. However, over 50% of them are currently discarded because of the lack of specific technologies in industrial applications. Therefore, effective and specific applications must be developed in order to manufacture high-quality materials using discarded lignocellulosic resources. In this study, we determined the possibility of using kraft pulp from major agricultural byproducts as a raw material for the manufacture of paperboard. Rice husks, peanut husks, and garlic stems were obtained and used to prepare many kinds of kraft pulps by controlling the active alkali, sulfidity, reaction time, and liquor ratio. After the production of these kraft pulps, handsheets were manufactured by mixing them with KOCC. After preconditioning, the physical properties and strengths of the handsheets were measured according to the TAPPI test methods. The shapes, lengths, and widths of the pulp fibers varied according to the type of agricultural byproduct and the kraft pulping conditions. Rice husk and garlic stem pulps manufactured under mild pulping conditions resulted in handsheets of higher bulk than other pulps. Garlic stem pulps manufactured under mild pulping conditions were stronger than rice husk pulps and peanut husk pulps.
