Chemical characterisation and suitability for papermaking applications studied on four species naturally growing in Tunisia

• Four plants species growing in Tunisia were tested for papermaking.
• The ash content of P. chloranthus and N. retusa was 5.04% and 6.14% respectively.
• The cooking yield of P. chloranthus, N. retusa and A. armatus was between 30 and 35%.
• Pulps from P. chloranthus and A. armatus had a kappa number of 22.6 and 13.7, respectively.
• The isolated fibres were used to produce laboratory handmade standard sheets.

Four plants species namely Astragalus armatus, Retama raetam, Pituranthos chloranthus and Nitraria retusa were collected from Kasserine (Tunisia) to study their suitability for pulp and papermaking. Their chemical composition revealed that the α-cellulose content in R. raetam was lower than the normal range of hardwood, but the others were acceptable for pulp production. The Klason lignin content in these species was lower than 20%, except for N. retusa (26%). The amount of extractives in organic solvents was quite high (close to 10%) in R. reatam and P. chloranthus. The previous raw materials were pulped by using the soda-anthraquinone cooking process, the morphological properties, kappa number and the degree of polymerisation of the pulps obtained were determined. Finally, laboratory handmade standard sheets were prepared from the unrefined pulps of P. chloranthus and A. armatus. Their characterisation showed that the prepared papers present low density values and quite good mechanical properties particularly for the unbleached pulp. This study demonstrates the high potentiality of these two species for papermaking applications.