A Weed Species Lantana camara L.

An Alternative Raw Material in Handmade Paper Making

Abstract

Lantana camara L. is amongst the 100 most famous weeds on the planet and got passage around in 60 nations. Lantana camara L. plant of family Verbenaceae indicates the potential for making paper. Handmade paper industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. Paper industries are consistently in look for conceivable non wood sustainable raw material that can supplant customary timberland based species like bamboo and wood. The present study focuses on Lantana camara L. a notorious weed that could be potential source for paper and pulp production. The raw material utilized for this experiment was leaf and twigs of Lantana camara and was cut into an appropriate size and subjected to the different NaOH concentrations. Using a British Sheet Former, 60 GSM handsheets were created in accordance with Standard TAPPI TEST guidelines. The sheet was made, and then pressed dried, and subjected to additional testing. To add smoothness, a calendaring operation was performed.

The greater physical strength features at four different NaOH concentrations indicate that the 6% and 8% NaOH Lantana fibre has proven to be quite successful. From the present finding it can be concluded that Lantana fibre can be utilized to produce handmade papers. The pulp thus produced can be used for making variety of handmade papers / paper boards, and also can be used in making patal/dona. Due to the shortage of trees and forests, the pulp and paper businesses around the world are struggling. It's time to start looking for solutions to get out of this situation. In this study, alternative raw materials were used to create paper using the “Handmade Method”.