A study was conducted to investigate the preliminary characteristics of soda-anthraquinone (soda-AQ) durian rind waste pulp and paper with the effects of elemental chlorine-free (ECF) bleaching and beating revolutions. Pulping was carried out using rotary digester with 0.1% antraquinone, 20% active alkali (NaOH), cooking time of 120 min and temperature of 170 °C. ECF bleaching with chlorine dioxide -alkali extraction -chlorine dioxide -alkali extraction -peroxide sequence and beating in the range of 0 to 1000 revolutions were applied to the unbeaten and unbleached pulp. ECF bleached pulp produced soda-AQ durian rind paper with greater tensile index, burst index, tear index, number of folds, brightness and scattering coefficients, but with slightly lower opacity compared with paper made from unbleached pulp. The results also showed that beating revolutions improved the overall physical and mechanical characteristics of durian rind soda-AQ pulp. Bleaching and beating enhanced the durian rind soda-AQ pulp fiber-to-fiber bonding and strength. Durian rind has potential characteristics as promising new material for papermaking.Keywords: Soda-AQ, refining, chlorine dioxide, alkali extraction, unbeaten and unbleached pulp, EFC bleaching al. 2013). These wastes have huge potential in the paper industry, but they have not been commercially exploited (Requejo et al. 2012). Hence, economical utilisation of these large amounts of agricultural wastes as raw material for pulp and paper industry would be beneficial.In addition to Thailand and Indonesia, Malaysia is one of the major durian flesh exporters. The aril comprises between 15 and 30% of the mass of the fruit (Brown 1997). One durian fruit has approximately 60 to 75% durian skin fibre (Nur Aimi et al. 2014). In 2014, 75,370 ha areas were planted with durian and these produced 373,565 t of fruits (Anonymous 2015). Disposal of massive amounts of peels has caused problems in the community (Hameed & Hakimi 2008 (Charoenvai et al. 2005), and absorbent materials (Mohammed et al. 2012). Perdinan et al. (2014) produced durian rind paper which consisted of durian rind soda pulp, starch and alkyl ketene dimer sizing agent. However, the physical characteristics of the paper did not fulfil the basic specifications for plastic laminated wrapping paper, as outlined by the SNI 14-6519 (SNI 2001). Durian skin fibre has great future potential and suitability for packaging due to its renewable and biodegradable properties and cost-effectiveness (Nur Aimi et al. 2014). Durian rind unbleached pulp produced via chemi-mechanical pulping has great potential for papermaking (Masrol et al. 2015a). Hence, other types of pulping such as chemical sodaanthraquinone (soda-AQ) pulping and various bleaching and beating processes are proposed to improve the characteristics of durian rind pulp produced via chemi-mechanical pulping.Soda-AQ, a common chemical pulping method, is mainly suitable for non-wood fibres. Soda-AQ pulp produces the highest content of alpha-cellulose and has the highest viscosity ...