Invented an organic fermentation process for producing paper

Assist. Prof. Sujaya Rittisorn, Biology Department’s faculty member at Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, invented an organic fermentation process for producing paper from the leaf sheaths of banana trees. The final paper product is environmentally friendly and will not turn yellow over time.

“In an industrial production process, sodium hydroxide and hydrogen perdroxide are used to soften and bleach the wood pulp, respectively. These two chemicals give us bright, white paper sheets, by reducing the amount of lignin (natural binding agent found in plant cellulose) in the pulp. However, the waste water from this process contains components of sodium, carbohydrate, and lignin, which are hazardous to the environment,” Sujaya said.

“The chemical reactions from hydrogen peroxide in the bleaching process doesn’t completely eliminate lignin, which is the main ingredient that causes paper to turn yellow over time. Paper produced using the chemical process also has a rough quality,” she added.

With these limitations, Sujaya turned to the organic fermentation process, which is more environmentally friendly. “In this process, lignin is dissolved during the fermentation of raw ingredients, without using sodium hydroxide. This process is more environmentally friendly and yields better quality paper,” she said.

The organic paper making process uses T. viride mold in the fermentation process, which eats up much of the lignin, thus reducing the amount of hydrogen peroxide necessary in bleaching. “The final product yields a higher brightness rating than those produced in the industrial process, in