SODA-ANTHRAQUINONE PULPING OF DURIAN RINDS
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study
Durian is a species of plant species in the genus Durio which producing aromatic fruit that can be eaten. It is very popular in Southeast Asia, where it is called the "king of fruits". Durian have a large size, unique odor, and its contents are protected by the fibrous and spiny skin. The fruit can grow up to 30 cm long and 15 cm in diameter, and typically weighs one to three kilograms.
During the durian season, durian rinds accumulate in high piles as vendors usually remove the rinds for buyers' convenience. In addition only 30% of durian are eatable and the other part are considered as waste such as durian seed and durian rinds. From its fibrous characteristic, durian rinds can be a material for paper making.
In the paper making process, pulping process is mainly to increase fibre to fibre bonding in the paper. There are two type of pulping process, mechanical pulping process and chemical pulping process. Using chemical pulp to produce paper is more expensive than using mechanical pulp or recovered paper, but it has better strength and brightness properties. This research are concentrated to chemical pulping which using the Soda-Anthraquinone as a pulping chemical.
Soda-Anthraquinone pulping is modified chemical process for wood pulp production with sodium hydroxide as the cooking chemical and anthraquinone (AQ) as a pulping additive to decrease the carbohydrate degradation. The advantages of using the soda-Anthraquinone method are not only having high pulp yield, but also resulting in better mechanical strength properties of the yield comparable to Mechanical pulp along with its environment friendly approach as well as its reduced active alkali consumption.

The aim of this paper is to study the characteristics of durian rinds soda-Anthraquinone pulp and paper. The study also investigates the effects of different time at maximum pulping temperature to the characteristics of Durian Rinds Paper Soda-Anthraquinone pulp and paper.

1.2 Problem Statement
The use of wood as a source of non-paper covers 10% of use around the world. However, the situation varies greatly depending on a country. For example, China is using more than 80% of paper made from bamboo, wheat straw and other non-wood fibers. By contrast, in Japan, more than 30 million tons of paper are used each year (or 250 kg per person), percentage of non-timber resources is 0.3% (Anonymous, 2001).
The demand for paper is increasing by the day, the notion that the world considers the progress of information technology will lead to the global community without paper (paperless). Referring to this situation, an alternative is needed as a new source of raw materials other than wood that has been the main source for the pulp and paper industry. The use of wood as a sustainable raw material will continue to damage the forest and thus the possibility of economic disputes of wood resources are limited.
Currently, Malaysia packaging industry used recycled paper as the main raw material for the papermaking. The problem is recycled paper has limited recycling process as it can be recycled 5 to 7 times before the fibre become shorter, stiff and difficult to collapse during papermaking process. The virgin pulp need to be added to maintain the fibre strength, but imported virgin pulp such as softwood long fibre is expensive and can contribute to the increasing of the production cost. Alternative raw material of virgin pulp is needed in contribution of enhancing the recycled paper strength.
Recently the demand for pulp has increased rapidly, especially in countries that are developing. Due to the lack of timber resources, non-wood lignocellulosic materials have been widely used as a substitute for wood for example blast in India (Mohta, D., 2001), bamboo, bagasse and rice straw in China (Zheng, 1994). In Malaysia alone, non-wood sourcing underway to replace the use of wood resources. Non-timber resources that have been commercialized previously empty fruit bunch.
Use of Durian rinds, can be considered relatively new in the pulping industry to the other industries in Malaysia. During the durian season, durian rinds accumulate in high piles as vendors usually remove the rinds for buyers' convenience. Therefore, we can take this advantages to use this new pulp material as a paper making material.
1.3 Significant of Study

This study is will be significant from the study to investigate the characteristic of Durian Rinds Soda-Aanthraquinone pulping process and paper by using the difference pulping temperature, pulping time and Soda-Anthraquinone percentage. Other than that, this study also can improved the quality of paper and achieving the highest paper properties. For an addition, this study also can help to decrease the forest harvesting by introducing the new raw material that have potential as a paper making material.

1.4 Objective

The study objectives are:
a) To investigate the characteristics of Durian Rinds Soda-Anthraquinone pulp and paper.
b) To investigate the effect of different time at maximum pulping temperature to the characteristics of Durian Rinds Paper Soda-Anthraquinone pulp and paper.

1.5 Scope of Study

a) Durian rinds will be pulped by Soda-Anthraquinone pulping process.
b) Durian rinds will be pulped in the rotary digester with 3 different time at maximum cooking temperature which are 90 minutes, 120 minutes, and 180 minutes.
c) Pulp properties for various specimens will be recorded according to Kappa number, drainage time, freeness level, total yield percentage, reject percentage and moisture content.
d) Standard hand sheet of 60 gsm will be prepared for various specimens according to appropriate TAPPI/MS ISO standards.
e) Analyse the properties of paper from durian rinds according to TAPPI standards as follows:
i. Structural (thickness, smoothness, density, gram mage) ii. Mechanical (tear, tensile, burst, folding) iii. Optical (opacity, scattering coefficient, brightness) iv. Scanning Electron Microscopy, SEM analysis
f) 120 gsm paper will be produced from the optimum pulp.