Linerboard made from Soda-Anthraquinone (Soda-AQ) treated coconut coir fiber and effect of pulp beating

The performance of coir fiber in the production of linerboard made from soda-anthraquinone (soda-AQ) pulp was evaluated. Based on chemical analysis, the composition of coir fiber is suitable for the pulping process. Out of nine pulping conditions characterized, a pulping condition of 18% active alkali for 90 min cooking time was chosen. These conditions provided the highest screened yield (48.99%), a low rejection yield (0.27%), high viscosity (11.73 cP), and a kappa number (41) that is acceptable for unbleached linerboard production. Beating strengthened the coir pulp. Analyzing the beating revealed that coir pulp was optimized at 1000 to 2000 revolutions, based on a graph of freeness vs. burst index. For all beating conditions (1000 to 8000 revolutions), FESEM micrographs showed the presence of internal and external fibrillation of the fiber, which gradually increased fiber conformability and improved the inter-fiber bonding within the paper formation. Based on its burst strength of 4.57 kPa.m2/g and ring crush test of 1.76 Nm2/g, which complies with the minimum requirement of the industry standard, coir fiber can be considered an alternative fiber source for linerboard production

Suitability of coir fibers as pulp and paper

This study was to investigate the suitability of coir fibers as an alternative material in making pulp and paper. Maceration process was used to characterize the fiber. Soda-AQ pulping with various combinations of active alkali (18-22%) and cooking time (90- 150 minutes) at fixed temperature was done. Physical properties evaluated were density, brightness, opacity, scattering coefficient, tear, burst and tensile index. As concentration of active alkali and cooking time increased, the physical properties values also increased, except for the opacity and scattering coefficient. The optimum condition for producing the strongest paper is using 22% active alkali in 120 minutes

Energy usage and drying capacity of flat-bed and inclined-bed dryers for rough rice drying

The evaluation of a dryer performance in terms of energy consumption, drying capacity and quality of final product is the main concern of rice milling industry at any time. A study was implemented to investigate on the benefits of common drying practices by studying the drying performances of flat-bed and inclined-bed dryers which are popular in rice industry in Malaysia and neighbouring countries. For this purpose, flat-bed dryer (FBD) and inclined-bed dryer (IBD) were designed, fabricated and operated in the laboratory based on actual industrial drying conditions. The results revealed that inclined-bed drying significantly increased drying capacity (ton m-2 h-1) of up to 25 % at drying temperature of 42-43°C and almost 29 % at 38-39°C drying air temperature compared to flat-bed drying. Furthermore, overall drying energy consumption in IBD was found to vary between 78.6 to 91.97 kW.h ton-1, while for FBD the energy consumption was more than 200 kW.h ton-1 for both levels of drying air temperatures. Both dryers were found to produce rice with desired/ acceptable commercial quality index, even though the head rice yields of FBD were higher than that of IBDs

Mechanical Properties and Water Absorption Behaviour of Durian Rind Cellulose Reinforced Poly(lactic acid) Biocomposites

Environmental concerns have resulted in replacing petrochemically derived polymer with biodegradable renewable resource. In this study, mechanical properties and water absorption behaviour of durian rind cellulose reinforced poly(lactic acid) biocomposites were investigated. Poly(lactic acid) was mixed with 25 and 35 wt. % of durian rind cellulose that was derived from durian consumption wastes. The biocomposties were melt-blended at 165 and 175 °C with 15 min using a Brabender internal mixer followed by a hot compression moulding technique. The results showed that impact strength and modulus of Young increased with increasing of cellulose content but decreased at higher mixing temperature. Water absorption behaviour of biocomposites as function of days was also investigated. It was found that the water absorption amount of biocomposites increased with increasing of cellulose content and exposure time.   

Compaction pressure, wall friction and surface roughness upon compaction strength of Andrographis paniculata tablets

A well-known Malaysian herb, Andrographis paniculata was used in this study. This herb is famous at reducing sugar levels for diabetic patients. In this study, the herb was compressed into tablets. A compressed tablet, which is a universal form in modern medicine, needs to meet certain mechanical strength criteria in order to withstand post-compaction loading such as coating, handling, packaging and storage. The objectives of this work were to investigate the effects of compaction pressure, wall friction and surface roughness upon compaction strength of A. paniculata herb during compression. A universal testing machine with pressures ranging from 15 to 30 MPa was used to compact the herb using a 20-mm-diameter cylindrical stainless steel uniaxial die. The tensile strength of the tablet increased as the compaction pressure increased. During compression, as the amount of powder being compressed increased, the tensile strength increased, and from the surface roughness test, the coefficient of wall friction and angle of wall friction decreased. In general, the compaction pressure, the wall friction and surface roughness plays a significant role in tabletting; hence, in producing a tough and coherent tablet

Discrimination of lard in extracted ink of printed packaging of foodstuff using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and multivariate analysis

The presence of lard in extracted ink of printed-packaging of foodstuff was discriminated using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in combination with the chemometrics tool by means of multivariate analysis. The spectra for lard, commercial gravure ink, and the blends of both ranging from 0.1%-20% of lard in gravure ink were acquired and analysed to characterise the peaks of interest. The inks from plastic food packaging were extracted in a process called deinking. The resulting ink extracts were also tested on FTIR. Several spectral regions of lard, commercial gravure ink, and the blends of both were selected and subjected for the partial least square (PLS) regression calibration. The calibration revealed that the 3020-2630cm-1 region was well-suited for correlating the predicted and actual value of lard. The coefficient of determination (R2) obtained using the optimized spectral treatments was higher than 0.99, while the root mean standard error of calibration (RMSEC) value was 0.007. The score plot from the principal component analysis (PCA) of the calibration set discriminated the lard, gravure ink and the blends into their respective groups. Soft independent modelling class analogy (SIMCA) was employed as the method of discriminant analysis (DA) to classify the samples into their specific groups based on the result of PCA. The plots showed that the lard and gravure ink are well separated and located at their axis, indicated that the discriminant analysis utilised was able to classify the samples into groups based on the presence of lard. These results demonstrated that FTIR spectroscopy, when combined with multivariate analysis, can provide a rapid method with no excessive sample preparation to discriminate the presence of lard in ink of foodstuff packaging

Mechanical and physical properties of kenaf-derived cellulose (KDC)-filled polylactic acid (PLA) composites

Kenaf-derived cellulose (KDC)-filled poly(lactic acid) (PLA) composites were prepared via melt blending and compression molding to improve the properties of PLA by introducing a natural cellulose that was chemically derived (chlorination and mercerization processes) from plant-based kenaf bast fibers. The effect of KDC content (0-60 wt.%) on the tensile elongation at the break point and during flexural and impact testing and on the water absorption and density of the composites was investigated, while the neat PLA polymer (without the addition of cellulose) served as a reference for the composites. The elongation at the break point of the composites was 9% on average, making it less elastic than the neat PLA. The flexural strength and modulus also increased by 36% and 54%, respectively. The impact strength of the composites was improved at KDC contents below 40 wt.%, but the impact strength was reduced above 40 wt.%. The composite containing the highest amount of KDC (60 wt.%) was denser than the neat PLA and had a water uptake of approximately 12%, which is notably low for a biocomposite system

Changes of physical properties during microwave processing of sagon

This study was designed to investigate the best and efficient method of processing sagon, a traditional snack food, using a microwave oven. Microwave cooking was conducted at three output powers of 90, 170 and 340 W. The effects of salt and different formulations on physical (moisture, water activity, color, surface morphology) as well as sensory properties of sagon were also investigated. Microwave heating reduced the time of cooking and/or drying compared with that of conventional way. The color of sagon was solely dependent on microwave output power and sugar content; the higher the output power the lesser is lightness and the greater is redness and yellowness, but texture and surface roughness showed better at medium microwave heating (170 W) confirmed by the micrographs. Microwave processing of sagon having high sugar content (60%) in the formulation at rather higher output power (340 W) resulted in most preferred sagon compared with that of conventional one available in the local market. Addition of salt bought about slightly higher reading of water activity and moisture content

Mechanical and thermal properties of PLA/halloysite bio-nanocomposite films: effect of halloysite nanoclay concentration and addition of glycerol

The usage of biopolymers in developing biodegradable materials for applications that meet demands in society for sustainability and environmental safety has been limited due to the poor mechanical and thermal properties of biopolymers. This study aimed to improve the limited properties of biopolymers, particularly polylactic acid (PLA) films, by investigating the effect of incorporating different concentrations (0–5 wt.%) of halloysite nanoclay and by adding glycerol plasticiser on the mechanical properties (tensile strength, elongation at break, Young’s modulus, and toughness) and thermal properties (glass temperature (Tg), melting temperature (Tm), and crystalline temperature (Tc)) of the produced bio-nanocomposite films. It was found that the addition of halloysite nanoclay and glycerol improved the mechanical and thermal properties of the films. PLA films incorporated with 3 wt.% concentration of halloysite nanoclay resulted in optimum mechanical properties due to the uniform distribution or dispersion of halloysite nanoclay. The addition of halloysite nanoclay and glycerol reduced the Tg, Tm, and Tc of the films, suggesting that they can improve the processability of the biopolymer. The bio-nanocomposite films produced in this work have the potential to replace non-biodegradable films due to the improved properties of the films

Size reduction of selected spices using knife mill: Experimental investigation and model fitting.

The process of size reduction is significant in numerous industries to improve performance and meet specification. This research is undertaken to study the size reduction of three spices, namely cinnamon, coriander and star anise as influenced by loading weight and grinding time. Grinding was conducted in a knife mill. The dependent variables used for assessing performance were grinding efficiency, size reduction ratio and grinding rate. Simple experimental model was built using Microsoft Excel for showing the relationship between cumulative size reduction function (Bij) and selectivity function (Si) with the physical properties like density, moisture content and hardness of spices used. It was observed that there was a gradual decrease in size of spices up to grinding of 1 min and then became constant. Among the three spices, cinnamon achieved the highest size reduction as evaluated by efficiency, size reduction rate and size reduction ratio. The optimum loading weight for grinding was found 30 g irrespective of the type of spices. The data of cumulative size reduction function, selectivity and particle size fitted to second-order polynomial equation with the highest goodness of fit. This study indicated that the size reduction/grinding using knife mill was greatly influenced by physical properties of spices among the factors studied