Caracterización físico química de los residuos del plátano y el café para su posible uso como materias primas en la fabricación de papel

Abstract

The paper market is considered to be one of the most important industrial sectors around the world, as paper is a key product for meeting the basic food needs of communities, personal hygiene, communication and knowledge transfer. Today, wood is the main source for paper production due to its high cellulose content, therefore, the paper industry has millions of hectares for forest plantations of leafy tree species and conifers that are characterized by high yield and require a high availability of nutrients and resources. This has an impact on native plant species by reducing available resources and creating an ecosystem imbalance. In order to reduce the environmental impacts generated by the paper industry, this research focused on evaluating the technical feasibility of using agricultural residues produced in coffee (Coffea arabica) and banana crops (Musa paradisiaca) to be used as raw materials in the production of paper, by physical chemical characterization of its chemical components such as cellulose, lignin and extractable substances, and physical substances such as moisture. The results obtained were 65,77% cellulose, 25,30% lignin, 14.08% extractable substances and 15,94% moisture for coffee residues and 74,75% cellulose, 7,89% lignin, 23,64% extractable substances and 15,86% moisture for banana residue. These results make it possible to determine that both banana and coffee residues can potentially be used as raw materials for paper production thanks to their high cellulose content and the percentage of moisture, lignin and extractable obtained is close to that generally found in wood raw materials.