Sifat Anatomi dan Kualitas Serat Kayu Afrika sebagai Bahan Baku Pulp dan Kertas: Anatomical Properties and Quality of African Wood Fiber as A Raw Material for Pulp and Paper

Nowdays, there is growing interested in development of afrika wood utilization. Afrika wood is one fast growing species from plantation forest. The objective of this research was to evaluated of characterization of afrika fiber for pulp and paper production. Anatomical properties of afrika wood were also investigated. Determination of characterization of fiber dimension was conducted based on Tappi (1989). The resulted showed that afrika wood have type of porous namely soliter and radial multiple porous. The parenchyma and ray characters were paratracheal parenchyma confluent and multiseriate types. For fiber characteristic obtained by fiber length, fiber diameter, lumen diameter, and cell wall thickness were 935.33 µm, 28.52 µm, 21.29 µm, and 3.62 µm respectively. The derived value of afrika fibers obtained by runkel ratio, felting power, muhlsteph ratio, coefficient of rigidity, flexibility ratio, and fiber length were 0.43, 35.02, 20.51, 0.12, 0.76, and 935.33 µm respectively. Based on the derived value of afrika fibers, it qualifies as Grade II material for pulp and paper production. Afrika wood can be used as raw material for pulp and paper production.Saat ini, minat terhadap pengembangan pemanfaatan kayu di Afrika mengalami peningkatan. Kayu Afrika merupakan salah satu spesies kayu cepat tumbuh  yang berasal dari hutan tanaman. Tujuan dari penelitian adalah menganalisis karakteristik serat kayu  sebagai bahan baku pulp dan kertas. Selain itu, penelitian ini juga menganalisis sifat anatomi kayu Afrika. Penentuan karakterisasi dimensi serat dilakukan berdasarkan Tappi (1989). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kayu afrika mempunyai tipe pori soliter dan berganda radial. Parenkim dan jari-jari kayu afrika memiliki tipe parenkim paratrakeal konfluen dan multiseriat. Untuk karakteristik serat kayu afrika diperoleh panjang serat, diameter serat, diameter lumen, dan tebal dinding sel masing-masing sebesar 935,33 µm, 28,52 µm, 21,29 µm, dan 3,62 µm. Nilai turunan dimensi serat serat afrika yang diperoleh berdasarkan bilangan runkell, daya tenun, muhlsteph ratio, koefisien kekakuan, rasio fleksibilitas, dan panjang serat berturut-turut adalah 0,43, 35,02, 20,51, 0,12, 0,76, dan 935,33 µm. Berdasarkan nilai turunan serat Afrika, serat ini memenuhi syarat Kelas II sebagai bahan produksi pulp dan kertas. Kayu Afrika dapat digunakan sebagai bahan baku produksi pulp dan kertas