Cellulosic-Based Packaging Material from Corn Husk

The abundant agricultural waste is causing multiple problems that involve the environment, economic, and public health. This project represents an attempt to produce paper from corn husks – a discarded agricultural waste. This project aims to create a corn husk packaging material. The packaging material is then to be tested for its tensile strength and moisture absorption properties. Corn husk has no specific application after the extraction of the useful product. There is very limited studies done to produce a packaging material from corn husk. The corn husk is chosen because of its availability in the country and easily accessible. The corn husk is transformed to a packaging material by chemical pulping and paper making process. The corn husk paper will serve as packaging material for dry food and it is environmental friendly material and recyclable. The produced packaging materials are evaluated and tested using the ASTM testing standard. The packaging material with higher percentage of binder has more tensile strength and moisture absorption percentage compared with packaging material of lower percentage of binder.