THE PAPER-MAKING QUALITIES OF BAGASSE. 
The Paper-Making Qualities of 
Bagasse. 
The firm of Arthur D. Little, of: Cambridge, Mass., was engaged 
by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association, in 1917, to make an 
investigation of the paper-making qualities of Hawaiian bagasse, and . 
the results of their experiments are now published as a Bulletin, No. 
46, of 51 pages, Agricultural and Chemical Series, of the Experiment 
Station, Honolulu, 1919. The economic as well as the technical con- 
ditions affecting the proposed use were studied in detail, and the results 
obtained are strictly in line with the researches made a few years ago 
in connexion with the Cuban bagasse. 
It was desired to establish the paper-making value of the bagasse, 
to compare a few of the principal varieties of cane grown in the 
islands, and also to determine, if possible, the effect on the paper- 
making qualities of the mechanical treatment to which the cane had 
been subjected in the mill. 
PREPARATION OF THE BAGAssE. 
Bagasse (or, as it is often known as megasse) is the crushed cane 
stalks after the extraction of the juice. As it comes from the mill it is 
unsuitable for pulp making on account of the high content of non- 
fibrous cellular tissue or pith which in itself has no paper-making value, 
and constitutes an impurity which must be removed. This is done by 
shredding finely and then sifting in a rotary screen, by which process 
all of the pith can be removed, together with some of the finer fibre. 
In the investigations on Cuban bagasse it was found possible to make 
this separation at a very low cost. No doubt was entertained that such 
an operation could be carried out on Hawaiian bagasse cheaply and 
efficiently, but the Hawaiian bagasse appears to require finer shredding 
than the Cuban. In addition to being without value as a paper-making 
material, the pith, if retained in the pulp during the manufacturing 
processes, imparts various undesirable characteristics to the resulting 
paper: 
During cooking the hot alkali partly hydrolyses the pith, so that 
the finished paper that contains it has a tendency to hardness and 
translucency. The pith also produces a gelatinous or greasy pulp in 
the subsequent mechanical manipulation. A greasy pulp. not. only 
gives much trouble in running on the paper machine, but causes the 
paper to be laid more or less translucent and to possess poor folding 
qualities. If not removed, the pith also produces a discolouration of 
the paper, which is difficult to remove. Therefore, the pith should be 
separated before cooking. If separated after cooking there is a need- 
less consumption of alkali and a reduction in the charging capacity of 
the digesters. 
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