Development of Paper from Rice Straw for Producing Artificial Flower of Ban Kham Soom Vieng, Amphur Phrao, Chiang Mai

Abstract

A rice straw is an agricultural waste that can use as a raw material for producing  a paper, because of it contains a high amount of cellulose and hemicellulose. The objectives of this study were to produce and test properties of paper from an agricultural waste’s rice straw for making a die cut block which was then used in the production of an artificial flower’s petal, and to promote the community’s extra income from support of the villager. This study was carried out by boiling a rice straw in alkaline water obtained from an ash and pure water. The ratio of rice straw : alkaline water : pure water was 1 kg : 1 L : 1, and then added with 25 mg of the rice flour to enhance the strength of paper. The paper sheets were made form 50, 60, 70 and 80 grams of wet pulp weight. The produced papers were tested mechanical property of paper. The result showed that the rice straw paper blended with flour during pulping process provided the highest tensile strength of 44.44 MPa because of refining process resulted in smaller fiber and more branch, causing strong adhesion of fibers. The flour acted as a binder that combined each fiber in the papermaking process to be increased in tensile strength of obtained paper sheet. The rice straw paper blended with flour during pulping process (50 g/wet pulp weight) had a basis weight of 87.11 gsm which was closed to a type of wood-free paper (80 gsm) applied for flower petal making. The paper surface was also smoother and brighter because the porous among fibers were covered with flour.