ARTISANAL PAPER FROM SUGAR CANE (Saccharum spp.) STRAW

Abstract

Paper is one of the essential materials for the functioning of many human activities, such as health, education, diet, among others. Due to this, the objective of this study was to elaborate artisanal paper from cellulose fiber extracted from sugar cane (Saccharum spp.) straw. The fibers were extracted with caustic soda and artisanal methods. For every 1000 g of straw, 365 g of cellulose pulp were obtained, which were transformed into 70±3 leaves of artisanal paper with a leaf size close to letter size, with average weight of 9.5 g. The cellulose fiber allows forming leaves with an average of 8.4 g of thickness, which do not need to be subjected to evaluations of their properties, since these leaves are art and the final beauty depends on the creativity of artisans.