Abstract:
Elephant grass is lignocellulosic material that has the potential as raw material in pulping process.
The objective of this research is to study effect of operational condition on the characteristic of
pulp. Effect of the process condition were studied by Response Surface Methodology (RSM) with
Central Composite Design (CCD). Pulping Experiment were carried out at the boiling temperature
of cooking liquorat atmospheric pressure with 40 gram of elephent grass with a concentration of
formic acid were 60%, 70%, and 80%, cooking time were 60 minutes, 120 minutes, and 180
minutes, solid to liquor ratio were 10/1, 15/1, and 20/1, and catalyst HCl was 0,1%. The result
showed that pulp of the elephant grass have yield pulp of 53,6% - 73,7%, lignin content of 11% -
19,5%, with burst index of 2,38 – 4,24 kPa.m2/g, tear index of 2,57 – 21,95 mN m2/g, and tensile
index of 47,93 – 205,491 Nm/g.
