THE ROLE OF SYNTHETIC RESIN OF WET STRENGTH PAPER MADE FROM EMPTY OIL PALM FRUIT BUNCHES PULP FOR INDONESIAN OIL PALM NURSERY-BAGS

This study aims to anticipate environmental issues in the upstream of the Indonesian palm oil industry so the increasing consumption of non-biodegradable polybags as nursery packaging can be substituted by more eco-friendly packaging. The utilization of empty oil palm fruit bunches (EFB) pulp in wet-strength papermaking as a substitute for polybags in nursery packaging has been carried out. Three synthetic resin candidates from the epichlohydrin (PAE), butylene succinate (PBS), and formaldehyde (PF) groups have been varied in paper making, which takes place under neutral/alkaline conditions. The EFB pulp from chemical and mechanical pulping is used for handsheet making with a basis weight of 125 g/m2 . The mechanical pressing and curing stage are carried out at a pressure of 200 kg/cm2 and a temperature of 120C for 2 minutes. The test results show that chemical pulp provides better properties than mechanical pulp, especially in terms of strength properties (bursting index, tear index, tensile index, wet tensile index, stretch and TEA). The polyamide epichlorohydrin resin in neutral/alkaline condition during the handsheet-making process provides the highest wet tensile index value compared to other resins. The results of the biodegradability test showed that all resins used could be decomposed, but paper with phenol formaldehyde resin took longer to decompose than paper containing PAE and PBS resins. The trial of paper bags using PAE resin in the actual environment has been carried out at the Aek Pancur Oil Palm Nursery Center and PTPN II Pagar Merbau Plantation, North Sumatra Province. Until entering the third month, visually, paper bags for pre-nursery still did not show any failures either in terms of packaging defects or in the growth process