Vegetable paper comprising fibres of a plant

Abstract

The invention relates to a vegetable paper comprising fibres of a plant that has undergone extraction in a solvent.

Claims

1. A paper product comprising: a paper formed from at least 50% by weight extracted plant fibres, the plant fibres being extracted such that the plant fibres contain water soluble extracts in an amount less than 10% by weight; and delignified fibres blended with extracted plant fibres, the delignified fibre and extracted plant fibre blend having been refined together and formed into the paper.

2. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the plant fibres are extracted such that the plant fibres contain water soluble extracts in an amount less than 5% by weight.

3. A paper product as defined in claim 1, in which the extracted plant fibres are obtained from a plant comprising a cocoa tree, a coffee tree, a tea tree, a vine, ginger, ginkgo, camomile, a tomato plant, ivy, mate, rooibos, a cucumber, a cereal or a tree.

4. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the extracted plant fibres are obtained from a sapwood, a heart wood or a pith of a tree.

5. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the extracted plant fibres comprise cocoa bean husk fibres.

6. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the extracted plant fibres comprise fibres obtained from a film surrounding a coffee grain.

7. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the extracted plant fibres comprise tea tree leaf fibres.

8. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the paper product comprises a cardboard.

9. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the paper further comprises synthetic fibres.

10. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the paper further comprises a wet strength agent.

11. A paper product as defined in claim 10, wherein the wet strength agent comprises a polyamide.

12. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the paper further comprises an oil-barrier and fat-barrier agent.

13. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the paper further comprises an anti-blocking agent.

14. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the paper further comprises a dry strength agent.

15. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the paper further comprises a softener.

16. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the paper further comprises a filler.

17. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the extracted plant fibres comprise camomile fibres.

18. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the extracted plant fibres comprise beer draft fibres.

19. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the extracted plant fibres comprise tomato leaf fibres, ginger fibres, or grape marc fibres.

20. A paper product as defined in claim 1, wherein the paper has a basis weight of from about 30 gsm to about 200 gsm.

Description

EXAMPLE

(1) 1°) Cocoa Tree Vegetable Paper

(2) A vegetable paper according to the invention comprising fibres originating from cocoa tree was manufactured according to the following method: cocoa husks were ground using a knife mill so as to obtain particles about 1 mm in size. The ground husk material was then mixed with water at 70° C. for 20 minutes, in a husk/water ratio of 1/10. The mixture is then centrifuged so as to separate the aqueous part (cocoa husk fluid) from the insoluble part (cocoa husk fibres). The fibrous fraction is refined using a disc refiner. After refining, delignified fibres originating from resinous trees are added to the refined fibre fraction according to the invention in a ratio of delignified fibres/fibres according to the invention from cocoa tree of 40%/60% so as to manufacture vegetable paper sheets. The vegetable paper sheets are then dried on a hotplate.

(3) 2°) Coffee Tree Vegetable Paper

(4) A vegetable paper according to the invention comprising fibres originating from coffee tree was manufactured according to the following method: the films surrounding the coffee grains were mixed with water at 70° C. for 20 minutes, in a film/water ratio of 1/5 by weight. The mixture then undergoes an extraction step in a hydraulic press to separate the aqueous part (coffee film fluid) from the insoluble part (coffee film fibres). The recovered insoluble part is heated a second time at 70° C. for 10 minutes with an insoluble part/water ratio of 1/5 by weight. After an additional extraction (by pressing), the sample is refined using a disc refiner. After refining, delignified fibres originating from resinous trees are added to the refined fibre fraction according to the invention in a ratio of delignified fibres/fibres according to the invention from coffee tree of 10%/90% so as to manufacture vegetable paper sheets. The vegetable paper sheets are then dried on a hotplate.

(5) 3°) Tea Tree Vegetable Paper

(6) A vegetable paper according to the invention comprising fibres originating from tea tree was manufactured according to the following method: black tea leaves were mixed with water at 70° C. for 20 minutes, in a tea/water ratio of 1/5 by weight. The mixture then undergoes an extraction step in a hydraulic press to separate the aqueous part from the insoluble part (tea fibres). The recovered insoluble part is heated a second time at 70° C. for 10 minutes with an insoluble part/water ratio of 1/5 by weight. After an additional extraction (by pressing), the sample is refined using a disc refiner. After refining, cellulose fibres (mixture of abaca, resinous tree pulp and broadleaved tree pulp in a 60/10/30 ratio) are added to the refined delignified fibres in a ratio of delignified fibres/fibres according to the invention from tea tree of 10%/90% by weight so as to manufacture vegetable paper sheets. The vegetable paper sheets are then dried on a hotplate.

(7) 4°) Green Tea Vegetable Cardboard for Secondary Wrapping (Tea Carton)

(8) A vegetable cardboard according to the invention comprising fibres originating from tea tree was manufactured according to the following method: green tea leaves were ground using a knife mill so as to obtain particles about 1 mm in size. The ground leaf material is then mixed with water at 70° C. for 45 minutes, in a ground tea leaf/water ratio of 1/10. The mixture is then centrifuged so as to separate the aqueous part (tea leaf fluid) from the insoluble part (tea fibres).

(9) The insoluble part is refined using a disc refiner. After refining, delignified fibres originating from resinous trees are added to the refined insoluble part in a ratio of delignified fibres/refined insoluble part of 50%/50% so as to manufacture the vegetable cardboard. The cardboard is then manufactured on a paper machine at a grammage of about 275 g/m.sup.2.

(10) 5°) Cocoa Vegetable Cardboard for Secondary Wrapping (Chocolate Box)

(11) A vegetable cardboard according to the invention comprising fibres originating from cocoa tree husks was manufactured according to the following method: the husks were ground using a knife mill so as to obtain particles about 1 mm in size. The ground husk material was then mixed with water at 70° C. for 45 minutes, in a husk/water ratio of 1/10. The mixture is then centrifuged so as to separate the aqueous part (fluid originating from the cocoa tree husks) from the insoluble part (cocoa husk fibres). The insoluble part is refined using a disc refiner. After refining, delignified fibres originating from resinous trees are added to the refined insoluble part in a delignified fibres/refined insoluble part ratio of 50%/50% so as to manufacture the vegetable cardboard. The cardboard is then manufactured on a paper machine at a grammage of about 250 g/m.sup.2.

(12) 6°) Other Examples

(13) Various examples of vegetable papers were obtained from the plant fibres and plant parts presented in the table below, the fibres of said plants being subjected to extraction with water. The process used to obtain the exemplified vegetable papers is adapted so that the amount of water-soluble extracts from the plant is less than 10% by weight of the dry matter of the vegetable paper.

(14) TABLE-US-00001 Proportion of fibres according to the Proportion of Vegetable invention delignified fibres grammage Plants (%) (%) (g/m.sup.2) Beer draff 60 40 90 Coffee 75 25 90 Coffee 75 25 180 Camomile 90 10 66 Camomile 90 10 135 Camomile 90 10 128 Tomato leaves 90 10 84 Tomato leaves 85 15 91 Ginger 90 10 101 Ginkgo 90 10 86 Grape marc 60 40 90 50% ivy/50% maté 90 10 80 Maté 90 10 145 Rooibos 90 10 100 Black tea 90 10 116 Black tea 90 10 118 Black tea 90 10 97.5 Black tea 90 10 100 Black tea 90 10 100 Green tea 90 10 75 Green tea 90 10 64 Green tea 90 10 67 Green tea 90 10 98 Green tea 90 10 100 Green tea 80 20 100 Green tea 98 2 100 Green tea 90 10 113 Green tea 90 10 100 Green tea 90 10 100 Green tea 100 0 100 Green tea 90 10 100 Green tea 80 20 70 Green tea 60 40 90 50% green tea/ 85 15 51.3 50% ivy Cucumber stalks 85 15 90

(15) 5°) Example of Designs for Face Masks

(16) Vegetable Mask with Tea/Mint Fibres

(17) A vegetable paper according to the invention comprising fibres originating from tea tree and peppermint was manufactured according to the following method: green tea leaves and mint were mixed in a ratio of 60%/40% with water at 70° C. for 20 minutes, in a ratio (tea+mint)/water of 1/5 by weight. The mixture then undergoes an extraction step in a hydraulic press to separate the aqueous part from the insoluble part (tea and mint fibres). The recovered insoluble part is heated a second time at 70° C. for 10 minutes with an insoluble part/water ratio of 1/5 by weight. After an additional extraction (by pressing), the sample is refined using a disc refiner. After refining, cellulose fibres (abaca) are added to the refined delignified fibres in a ratio of delignified fibres/fibres according to the invention of tea and mint of 1/1 by weight and a wet strength agent is added in a ratio of agent/total fibres of 1/9 so as to manufacture vegetable paper sheets having a grammage of about 80 g/m.sup.2. The vegetable paper sheets are then dried on a hotplate.

(18) In other examples, the abaca fibre is replaced with flax fibre and the ratio of delignified fibres/vegetable fibres according to the invention ranges from 1/9 to 1/1.

(19) Vegetable Mask with Green Tea Fibres for Hydroentanglement

(20) A vegetable paper according to the invention comprising fibres originating from tea tree was manufactured according to the following method: green tea leaves were mixed with water at 70° C. for 20 minutes, in a tea/water ratio of 1/5 by weight. The mixture then undergoes a step of extraction in a hydraulic press to separate the aqueous part from the insoluble part (tea fibres). The recovered insoluble part is heated a second time at 70° C. for 10 minutes with an insoluble part/water ratio of 1/5 by weight. After an additional extraction (by pressing), the sample is refined using a disc refiner. After refining, delignified abaca fibres and Tencel® 10 mm fibres are added to the fibres of the invention of tea tree and mint in an abaca/Tencel®/tea ratio of 4/1/5 so as to manufacture vegetable paper sheets. The sheet formed is then hydroentangled.

(21) In another example, the Tencel® fibres are replaced with synthetic fibres (rayon, PET) added to the delignified abaca fibres and the fibres of the invention of tea tree in an abaca/synthetic fibres/tea ratio of 4/1/5.

(22) Analysis Results

(23) 1) Cocoa Tree Vegetable Paper

(24) TABLE-US-00002 Cocoa tree vegetable paper 60% cocoa tree fibres + 40% Measuring cellulose fibres method of Example 1 Grammage (g/m.sup.2) NF Q03 019 53 Thickness (μm) NF Q03 017 191.2 Flexural strength 7.5° ISO 2493-1, 2011 21.6 Machine direction MD (mN) Flexural strength 7.5° ISO 2493-1, 2011 21.6 Cross direction CD (mN) Flexural strength 15° MD (mN) ISO 2493-1, 2011 36.6 Flexural strength 15° CD (mN) ISO 2493-1, 2011 36.6 Breaking strength MD (kN/m) ISO 1924-2 0.91 Breaking strength CD (kN/m) ISO 1924-2 0.91 Deformation before rupture MD (%) ISO 1924-2 1.4 Deformation before rupture CD (%) ISO 1924-2 1.4 Burst strength (KPa) ISO 2758 47.4

(25) 2) Coffee Tree Vegetable Paper

(26) TABLE-US-00003 Vegetable paper 90% coffee tree fibres + 10% Standard paper Measuring cellulose fibres 100% cellulose method of Example 2 fibres Grammage (g/m.sup.2) NF Q03 019 124.5 55 Thickness (μm) NF Q03 017 478.9 186 Burst strength (kPa) NF Q03 053 82.05 115

(27) The burst strength of the coffee tree vegetable paper is of the same order of magnitude as that of the standard paper, but the grammages of the two papers are very different.

(28) 3) Green Tea Vegetable Cardboard

(29) TABLE-US-00004 Measuring Vegetable cardboard method 50% tea fibres Grammage (g/m.sup.2) NFQ 03-019 275 Thickness (μm) NFQ 03-016 495

(30) 4) Cocoa Tree Vegetable Cardboard

(31) TABLE-US-00005 Measuring Vegetable cardboard method 50% cocoa fibres Grammage (g/m.sup.2) NF EN ISO 536 254 Thickness (μm) NF EN ISO 534 420

(32) 5) Vegetable Mask with Green Tea Fibres for Hydroentanglement

(33) TABLE-US-00006 Measuring Vegetable mask method Green tea fibre Grammage (g/m.sup.2) NF EN ISO 536 79 Thickness (μm) NF EN ISO 534 456.00