Relationship Between Fiber Characteristics and Pulping Properties of Ipil Ipil (Leucaena leucocephala) Tree Grown in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Relationship Between Fiber Characteristics and Pulping Properties of Ipil Ipil (Leucaena leucocephala) Tree Grown in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Muhammad Umair Khan*, Zahid Rauf, Abdur Rehman, Tanvir Hussain and Mansoor Ali Khan
ABSTRACT
Identification of new species for pulp and paper production is the need of the day. In this regard, a little work has been done in Pakistan instead of abundance of various hardwood species which would be regarded as fine sources of pulp and paper production. There is a dire need for pulp and paper industry of Pakistan to find out locally available potential sources of raw material for pulp and paper production. This would be helpful to reduce imports and provide economic incentive to industrial and forestry sector of Pakistan. This study investigates the relationships between fiber characteristics (such as fiber diameter, fiber length, fiber lumen length and fiber wall thickness) and pulping properties of Ipil ipil (Leucaena leucocephala) grown in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Wood chips were processed by Kraft pulping, in Pulp and Paper laboratory of Forest Product Research Division, Pakistan Forest Institute, Peshawar. Morphological characteristics of fibers at three different levels of freeness were determined to predict the pulping properties of ipil ipil (Leucaena leucocephala). The results show that all the considered fiber characteristics were found to influence the pulp sheet of Ipil ipil (Leucaena leucocephala). Overall, this paper highlights the importance of understanding the relationship between pulping properties and fiber characteristics of Ipil ipil (Leucaena leucocephala), for efficient and sustainable pulp and paper production.
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