Paper sheets made from sugarcane bagasse and lemongrass by-products: Synthesis and properties

Vietnam J. Agri. Sci. 2021, Vol. 19, No. 7: 964-974 Tạp chí Khoa học Nông nghiệp Việt Nam 2021, 19(7): 964-974 
www.vnua.edu.vn 
964 
PAPER SHEETS MADE FROM SUGARCANE BAGASSE 
AND LEMONGRASS BY-PRODUCTS: SYNTHESIS AND PROPERTIES 
Ngo Thi Thuong1, Tran Thi Thuy Dung2, Chu Thi Thanh1, 
Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh1, Le Thi Thu Huong1* 
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Environment, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, 
2Student at K61CNTPA class, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, 
Vietnam National University of Agriculture 
*Correspondence to: lethithuhuong@vnua.edu.vn 
Received: 02.03.2020 Accepted: 04.03.2021 
ABSTRACT 
Plastic single-use packaging is one of the largest contributors to plastic pollution in Vietnam as well as in many 
other countries. Alternative materials, especially materials derived from natural and renewable sources, should be 
developed to solve this global issue. In this study, we aimed to investigate the synthesis and properties of packaging 
paper sheets from sugarcane bagasse and lemongrass by-products. The delignification of the biomass was 
implemented at different NaOH/biomass ratios and hydrolysis times while the paper making process was studied at 
various sugarcane bagasse/lemongrass ratios and different amounts of glycerol and starch additives. The obtained 
paper sheets were then tested for their mechanic properties and water absorption through ASTM (American Society 
for Testing and Materials) procedures, and the biodegradability by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results 
showed that the paper sheets at the optimized conditions had low thickness (0.3mm), density (0.4 g cm-3), and water 
absorption but high tensile strength (19 N mm-2) and flexural modulus (17 N). These properties and their 
biodegradability suggest that the paper sheets could potentially be used in packaging. 
Keywords: Biodegradability, lemongrass, optimization, paper sheet making, sugarcane bagasse, tensile strength. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
White pollution or plastic pollution has 
become a global problem that has many 
severely negative impacts on humans and the 
ecosystem. One of the biggest sources of plastic 
pollution is about 400 million tons of single-use 
packaging that accounts for 36% of the total 
plastic production annually (UNEP, 2018). It is 
urgent to find out alternative sustainable 
materials to replace plastic in the packaging 
industry. Renewable agricultural by-product 
fibers have attracted much attention from 
researchers worldwide to serve as substitutes 
for petroleum-based polymers which can be 
highly contaminated by hazardous substances 
such as PAH (Rochman et al., 2013), PCB 
(Pascall et al., 2005) or heavy metals (Alam et 
al., 2018a; Alam et al., 2018b). 
There is a lot of agricultural waste 
containing fiber in Vietnam such as sugarcane 
bagasse, lemongrass bagasse (by-product of 
lemongrass after essential oil distillation), rice 
straw, banana pseudostems and leaves, and 
Zingiberaceae leaves. Sugarcane bagasse 
compositions are mainly cellulose (about 60%), 
hemicellulose (20%), glucose (10%), and some 
other ingredients. Although sugarcane bagasse 
is considered the ideal raw material for 
producing many new products due to its 
abundant supply and stable price, it needs to be 
modified to obtain the desired mechanical 
properties. For example, cellulosic fibers from 
bagasse were combined with powders to form 
composite materials; combined with gelatin, 
starch, and agar for making tableware; or mixed 
with wood pulp resins and other natural fibers 
(Loh et al., 2013). The cellulose content in 
Ngo Thi Thuong, Tran Thi Thuy Dung, Chu Thi Thanh, Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh, Le Thi Thu Huong
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lemongrass by-products is about 40% (Kaur & 
Dutt, 2013). When combined with sugarcane 
bagasse, the difference in cellulose content and 
polymeric chain lengths of the different fibers 
may enhance some mechanical properties of the 
obtained composites (Agustina et al., 2019). 
It was also published that fibers from 
agricultural by-products could be used to 
make paper sheets. In Oman, Khalsa Al-
Sulaimani and his research group (Al-
Sulaimani et al., 2017) produced handmade 
paper from bagasse and banana stalk fiber. 
The research team investigated three 
composition formulas: formula 1 had only raw 
materials from bagasse and banana, formula 2 
and 3 were fibers mixed with CaCO3 fillers 
(2% and 5%), respectively, and starch (2%-5%) 
for adhesion. The research results showed that 
adding additives increased adhesion and the 
whiteness of the paper while reducing the 
paper thickness. Bagasse is more rigid than 
banana fiber so it is suitable for wrapping 
paper, while banana fiber is very suitable for 
making soft paper such as tissue paper. 
Although these fibers are important 
resources, there are few environmental-friendly 
applications of these materials in use now in 
Vietnam. ... sier to make 
into paper with a smaller thickness, and greater 
density, flexural strength, and tensile strength 
(Cruz et al., 2017). Although, glycerol is water-
soluble, in order to select the appropriate 
glycerol ratio, it was necessary to further 
consider the water absorption properties of the 
paper. Water absorption is greatly affected by 
the structural integrity of the paper. The cause 
of this phenomenon is that the natural 
capillaries found in bagasse make the paper 
quickly reach hydration equilibrium. The 
results of the water absorption test of this 
sample series are presented in Figure 2 and 
Figure 3. When not using glycerol, after only 
15s in contact with water, the paper bands 
absorbed water more than 50% of their weight. 
After 30 s, they absorbed 100% of the water. At 
the contact time of 15s, TN3.2 (2ml glycerol 
added) was the least water absorbent sample. 
However, after 60s, the water absorbed 
amounts in TN3.2, TN3.3, and TN3.4 became 
close to that of each other. These differences 
were not statistically significant. TN3.1 and 
TN3.5 showed the highest water absorption. 
This can be explained by the fact that without 
glycerol (TN3.1), water was more easily able to 
go into the cellulose fibers in the biomass, while 
with too much glycerol (TN3.5), water could be 
absorbed into the paper sheets through the 
glycerol dissolution process. These results 
suggested that 4 ml of glycerol was enough to 
absorb and connect the fibers in the biomass. 
However, based on the three properties of 
tensile strength, flexural modulus (Table 3), 
and absorption, the TN3.4 condition (6ml 
glycerol) was chosen to proceed with other 
experiments. 
3.2.2. Effects of the sugarcane bagasse/ 
lemongrass ratio on the paper properties 
Table 4 shows the effect of the lemongrass 
composition on the paper properties. It was 
obvious that when adding lemongrass, the 
paper sheets became thinner with a higher 
density, higher tensile strength, and higher 
flexural modulus. The differences between the 
strength of the cellulose fibers (due to the 
length of the cellulose chains) of the sugarcane 
bagasse and lemongrass could be the reason for 
the significant changes in these parameters 
between TN4.2, TN4.3, or TN4.4 and TN4.1. 
Figure 4 also demonstrates that the higher the 
ratio of lemongrass, the less water was 
absorbed into the paper sheets. These results 
also suggested that the combination could be an 
effective approach to controlling the paper 
properties. In our previous study, the composite 
samples with lower contents of lemongrass also 
showed lower tensile strength and flexural 
modulus (Ngo et al., 2018). For further 
experiments, the sugarcane bagasse/lemongrass 
Paper sheets made from sugarcane bagasse and lemongrass by-products: Synthesis and properties 
970 
ratios of 80/20 and 70/30 were chosen. Another 
study showed a similar dependence of the 
composite mechanical properties on their 
composition (Agustina et al., 2019). Different 
ratio mixtures of sugarcane bagasse and 
pineapple leaves were also investigated to 
prepare paper pulp resulting in papers with 
varied tensile and tearing strengths (Evelyn et 
al., 2019). 
3.2.3. Effects of the added starch amount 
on the paper properties 
All the researched samples were neutral. 
The thickness and density of the samples in this 
experiment series did not show much variation. 
The results in Table 5 reveal that adding starch 
at the ratios of 4% and 6% for both ratios of 
biomass (80/20 and 70/30) made the tensile 
strength and flexural modulus of the samples 
significantly (P < 0.5) greater than that at the 
ratio of 2%. This showed that when starch was 
used, the links between the cellulose fibers 
increased leading to stronger and more flexural 
paper. The tensile strength and flexural modulus 
of the samples at the ratios of 4% and 6% starch 
were not significantly different at the 5% 
significance level. There ws a similar trend in the 
water absorption of the samples (Figure 5). 
Figure 3. Effect of the added glycerol amount on the water adsorption capacity 
Figure 4. Effects of the sugarcane bagasse/lemongrass 
on the water absorption of the paper sheets 
Ngo Thi Thuong, Tran Thi Thuy Dung, Chu Thi Thanh, Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh, Le Thi Thu Huong
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Figure 5. Effects of the starch amount on the water absorption of the paper sheets 
Table 2. Effects of reaction time on the delignification of the biomass 
Sample Time (h) 
Delignified biomass 
weight (g) 
Paper sheet 
weight (g) 
Papermaking 
yield (%) 
Thickness 
(cm) 
Obtained fibers Obtained paper sheet 
TN2.1 0.5 29.43 ± 0.32 28.96 ± 0.12 92.1 ± 1.1 1.13
a
 ± 0.20 Difficult to grind, 
hard fibers with 
the size range of 
2-2.5cm 
TN2.2 1 27.18 ± 0.21 27.00 ± 0.25 99.3 ± 1.2 0.94
a
 ± 0.26 Less difficult to 
grind, hard fibers 
with the size range 
of 1.5-2cm 
TN2.3 2 24.52 ± 0.17 24.33 ± 0.13 99.2 ± 0.9 0.77
b
 ± 0.11 Easy to grind, soft 
and short fibers 
TN2.4 3 24.03 ± 0.18 23.71 ± 0.10 98.7 ± 0.8 0.73
b
 ± 0.10 Easy to grind, soft 
and short fibers 
Note: Values with the same letter within each coulmn are not significantly different at the 5% level. 
Therefore, 4% starch was an appropriate 
amount for the papermaking process. The data 
showed that if the links between cellulose fibers 
were too tight, then the tensile and flexural 
strength would increase very little when more 
starch was used. The ratio of 4% was the ratio 
of the flexural strength and the tensile strength 
of the hearing. 
Paper sheets made from sugarcane bagasse and lemongrass by-products: Synthesis and properties 
972 
3.3. Biodegradability properties 
The biodegradability test results are shown 
in Figure 6. The optimized sample pieces of 
TN5.5 were buried in soil at different depths of 
5 cm and 10 cm. The initial average weight of 
the TN5.5 pieces was 0.0562 ± 0.0017. After 15 
days, the weights of the TN5.5 pieces at 5 cm 
and 10 cm-depths were 0.0367 ± 0.0015 and 
0.0282 ± 0.0018g, respectively. These 34.7% and 
49.8% weight losses indicated the biodegradation 
of the samples. The SEM images (Figure 6) of the 
samples also showed a decrease in the thickness 
of the samples. There was a difference in the 
biodegradability rate between the 2 depths. This 
result differs from those published by 
Mirachelvam et al. (2019). This could be due to 
the differences in the composition of the samples 
in the current study and referent research.
Table 3. Effects of added glycerol amount on the paper properties 
Formula 
Glycerol amount 
(ml) 
pH Thickness (mm) density (g cm
-3
) 
Tensile strength 
(N mm
-2
) 
Flexural 
modulus (N) 
TN3.1 0 6.4 0.75
a
 ± 0.05 0.28 ± 0.03 6.30
a
 ± 0.10 0.61
a
 ± 0.10 
TN3.2 2 6.3 0.48
b
 ± 0.05 0.35 ± 0.06 8.23
b
 ± 0.05 0.70
a
 ± 0.10 
TN3.3 4 6.5 0.47
b
 ± 0.04 0.32 ± 0.06 14.33
c
 ± 0.11 0.93
b
 ± 0.05 
TN3.4 6 6.5 0.46
b
 ± 0.04 0.34 ± 0.04 17.70
d
 ± 0.70 1.10
bc
 ± 0.10 
TN3.5 8 6.4 0.46
b
 ± 0.08 0.34 ± 0.09 24.00
e
 ± 0.81 1.23
c
 ± 0.05 
Note: Values with the same letter within each column are not significantly different at the 5% level. 
Table 4. Effects of the sugarcane bagasse and lemongrass byproduct ratio 
on the paper properties 
Formula 
Sugarcane 
bagasse/lemongrass 
by-product ratio 
pH 
Thickness 
(mm) 
density 
(g cm
-3
) 
Tensile strength 
(N mm
-2
) 
Flexural modulus 
(N) 
TN4.1 100/0 6.3 0.46 ± 0.09
a
 0.31 ± 0.09 16.27
a
 ± 2.04 1.13
a
 ± 0.06 
TN4.2 90/10 6.3 0.29 ± 0.03
b
 0.48 ± 0.07 18.07
ab
 ± 1.72 1.31
b
 ± 0.10 
TN4.3 80/20 6.2 0.30 ± 0.03
b
 0.42 ± 0.05 20.43
bc
 ± 0.81 1.33
b
 ± 0.06 
TN4.4 70/30 6.3 0.33 ± 0.03
b
 0.43 ± 0.07 21.46
c
 ± 0.33 1.43
b
 ± 0.05 
Note: Values with the same letter within each column are not significantly different at the 5% level. 
Table 5. Effects of the added starch amount on the paper properties 
Formula 
Sugarcane 
bagasse/lemongrass 
by-product ratio 
Starch 
amount 
(%) 
pH 
Thickness 
(mm) 
density 
(g cm
-3
) 
Tensile 
strength 
(N mm
-2
) 
Flexural modulus 
(N) 
TN5.1 80/20 2 6.3 0.32
a
 ± 0.01 0.43 ± 0.05 11.87
a
 ± 0.31 0.93
a
 ± 0.15 
TN5.2 80/20 4 6.4 0.30
a
 ± 0.01 0.50 ± 0.04 18.33
b
 ± 0.15 1.17
ab
 ± 0.15 
TN5.3 80/20 6 6.4 0.30
a
 ± 0.02 0.44 ± 0.07 18.80
b
 ± 0.41 1.31
b
 ± 0.10 
TN5.4 70/30 2 6.3 0.31 
a
± 0.01 0.48 ± 0.03 16.30
c
 ± 0.10 1.32
b
 ± 0.11 
TN5.5 70/30 4 6.4 0.32
a
 ± 0.01 0.44 ± 0.04 18.90
b
 ± 0.36 1.63
c
 ± 0.11 
TN5.6 70/30 6 6.3 0.33
a
 ± 0.02 0.39 ± 0.02 19.60
b
 ± 0.56 1.77
c
 ± 0.06 
Note: Values with the same letter within each column are not significantly different at the 5% level. 
Ngo Thi Thuong, Tran Thi Thuy Dung, Chu Thi Thanh, Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh, Le Thi Thu Huong
973 
Figure 6. SEM images of the TN5.5 pieces before (a) 
and after the biodegradability test at 5-cm (b) and 10-cm depth (c) 
4. CONCLUSIONS 
In conclusion, the optimized conditions of 
the synthesis of paper sheets from sugarcane 
bagasse and lemongrass by-products have been 
investigated. To obtain paper sheets with high 
tensile strength and flexural modulus, and with 
low thickness and water absorption, the 
biomass should be treated with 14% NaOH (w/w 
to biomass) for 2h. The sugarcane 
bagasse/lemongrass ratio could be 80/20 or 
70/30, and should then be mixed with 6ml 
glycerol and4% starch before making starch. 
The obtained paper sheets had good physical 
properties with the thickness of 0.3 mm, small 
density of 0.4 g cm-3, tensile strength of 19 N 
mm-2, and flexural modulus of 1.7 N. The 
paper sheets also exhibited low water 
absorption and the ability to biodegrade up to 
49.8% in the soil layer at a 10 cm depth after 15 
days. Based on the obtained results, it would be 
possible to prepare bio bags or bio containers 
from the optimized paper sheets. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
This work was financially supported by 
Vietnam National University of Agriculture 
under the Grant No.T2019-04-19. 
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