Development of oil palm empty fruit bunches’ lignin for production of linerboard coating: Effect of selected stabilizers on coating characteristics and coated linerboard properties

Linerboard coating, using lignin extracted from oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) was prepared by mixing 5% (w/v) lignin into oxidized starch solution. The effect of the type (arabic gum, carrageenan and guar gum) and concentration (1–5%, w/w of lignin) of stabilizers on the coating characteristics and properties of coated linerboard was investigated. The viscosity and stability of lignin-based coatings were improved with the addition of stabilizers. Lignin-based coatings containing arabic gum were found to be more stable than carrageenan and guar gum, even though they had meager viscosity. The linerboards coated with lignin-based coatings consisting of 1–3% of arabic gum and 4–5% of carrageenan provided lower water absorption than others. These conditions showed similar water absorption to linerboards coated with commercial wax coating. The type and concentration of stabilizers in this study did not affect the ring crush and bursting index of coated linerboards, and had little effect on the tensile index when a higher concentration (>1%) of stabilizers was applied. The results showed that the addition of 1% arabic gum into lignin-based coating provided good coating characteristics and properties of this coated linerboard were similar to commercial wax coating. This study indicated that OPEFB's lignin can be exploited for the production of coating for linerboard as an alternative to commercial wax coating.

► Development of oil palm empty fruit bunch's lignin for production of linerboard coating.
► Characterization of oil palm empty fruit bunch's lignin based coating.
► Effect of stabilizers on the characteristics of lignin-based coatings and coated linerboard properties.
► Comparative evaluation between linerboards coated with lignin-based coatings and commercial wax.