Washing treatment on biodelignified empty fruit bunches of oil palm affecting energy and chemical consumptions in paper production

Empty fruit bunches of oil palm (EFBOP), a solid organic waste of oil palm processing unit, has been recognized as potential source for alternative raw materials in pulp and paper industries. Within the decade, the materials have received a great deal of attentions, especially by the researchers in oil palm producing countries. Most of the data reported showed promising potential of various white-rot fungi as biodelignificator. As oil containing lignocellulosic materials, EFBOP utilization for pulping materials faces problems during paper production. This paper reports findings on the effects of washing treatments of biodelignified EFBOP and its fibre composition on the chemical pulp and paper characteristics and energy and chemical comsumptions. About 750-1000 kg of chopped EFBOP were inoculated by selected WRF, i.e. CPN and K-14 isolates, and incubated for 10 days. Prior to soda-anthraquinone pulping process conducted at PT Pabrik Kertas Padalarang, Bandung, the biodelignified EFBOP was washed with excessive tap water. As comparison separate treatments were conducted without washing and fungal inoculation. Both treated and untreated pulps were then mixed with other fibre materials before newsprint paper production. The washed EFBOP pulp were mixed with recycled pulps at 1 : 1 ratio, whereas the unwashed EFBOP pulps were mixed with pine pulps at 4 : 1 ratio. The results showed that washing treatment reduced the yield and kappa number of pulp and the yield of rolled pulp, but it significantly increased the pulp brightness. By washing the delignified EFBOPs and decreasing other fibre materials, the yield, production rate, and finishing yield of the newsprint paper were remarkable increased. These treatments also improved the brightness and opacity of the paper. Based on the paper processing applied, the treatments resulted in a significant reduction of both energy and chemical consumptions. The electrical and steam consumptions were decreased by 43 percent and 36 percent, respectively, whereas the chemical consumption was reduced by 33 percent in the case of K14 inoculated EFBOP pulp