Utilization of Coconut Fronds as Raw Material for Making Art Paper

Abstract

Coconut fronds are part of a coconut tree that has been rarely used while the amount is abundant. Therefore, there is a concern of how to more utilize coconut fronds. Coconut fronds can be used as raw material for making art paper because it has good amount of fiber and cellulose. The utilization of coconut fronds for making art paper can minimize the coconut fronds waste. Additionally, it also has an impact on forest conservation, since most of raw materials for paper pulp are coming from woods in the forest. The objective of this study is to utilize coconut fronds as agricultural solid waste as raw material for making art paper. The method used to make the paper is chemical pulp, which including pulping and bleaching, as well as art paper molding. The prepared art paper was then characterized by tensile strength test, strength test stretch and grammature. The art paper samples that have been prepared met the minimum SNI grammature of 100 g/m2. While, for the best tensile resistance test was about 19,800 for sample 30/75. Meanwhile, the best stretch resistance test was 0.955 for sample 60/75.