Abstract
Pulp characteristics viz. moisture, al pha-oe llulose, pentosan, lignin and ash of Maxi-Pak and Chehab-70 wheat straw, AC-134 and Desi.9 cotton stalks, Kahi grass and Bagasse, Pine and Poplar woods, were studied The differences among the pulp characteristics were significant, except alpha-cellulose. The highest percentage of alpha cellulose, lignin, and pentosan was noted in descending order Desi-9 cotton stalks, Pine wood and Maxi-Pak straw, respectively.
INTRODUCTION
Paper making is essentially a chemical process and the basic raw material required for this purpose is cellulose which is found in fibres of a wide variety of growing plants. Cellulose exists in bust fibres, grasses, woods and la certain plants, e. g, pine, cotton, etc. Seed fibre is pure cellulose brit the collulose in woody tissues is associated with other substances like lignin, Pakistan is developing its paper industry. To make it self-sufficient in paper production, it is necessary to utilize the indigenous raw material available in the country. Sufficient quantity of wheat straw, cotton stalks, grasses and soft woods is available in the country which can feed. the paper mills round the year. Considering the utility of such material for paper industry, the pulps of these materials were studied for their chemical characteristics. The pulp yield alongwith physical characteristics has already been discussed in an earlier paper (Ahmad et a/,, 1981). The importance of some chemical constitutents of pulp viz, cellulose, pentosan, lignin, ash and moisture for paper manufacturing has been reported by Casey (1954
*Department of Fibre Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. **Department of Applied Chemistry, University of Karachi, Karachi.
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