• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.153-159
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• 2006

Red algae were used to make bleached pulp, from which paper handsheet samples were made. Red algae consists of rhizoidal filaments, epidermal tissues whose color were reddish, mucous carbohydrates, and other minor elements. Rhizoidal filaments of high brightness were obtained after extracting out mucous carbohydrates, and bleaching the remainder by using bleaching chemicals. The sizes and shapes of several rhizoidal filaments (or red algae pulp) from different red algae species were examined, and their handsheet properties were compared. Transparent and transluscent high density paper samples were made without applying refining process from the red algae pulp. White paper samples with good printability and excellent formation were made. We are developing pilot scale pulping and papermaking facilities at this time.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.33-37
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• 2009

Hanji is a traditional Korean handmade paper, made of bast fibers of the paper mulberry. Its fiber furnish is much more expensive than wood fiber furnish. Hanji with a low basis weight requires additional opacity and smoothness for better writing and printing. Filler such as calcium carbonate can not be used to raise the opacity of Hanji because of its low retention in low basis weight paper and the high freeness of the Hanji fiber furnish. Addition of red algae pulp, which is prepared from marine red algae to the Hanji fiber furnish negated retention problems happening in the case of mineral filler addition, and produced a substantial improvement in the opacity and smoothness of Hanji. The higher retention was due to the much larger size of the red algae fibers compared to the mineral fillers. The improvement in opacity and smoothness were also due to the shape of the red algae fibers: that red algae fibers are narrower in widths and shorter in lengths than wood fibers results in increased surface area and smoothness.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.129-134
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• 2008

Properties of newly developed paper from Red Algae Pulp (RAP) were examined. The paper samples were prepared by mixing RAP fiber with wood fibers, HwBKP and SwBKP, to form a paper with $60g/m^2$ in weight. It was prepared in three to four different levels of refining degree and pressure so that it can reveal different bulk level in order to clearly compare the opacity at equivalent bulk for each furnish compositions. Printability of RAP fiber revealed superior effect on print through repression and initial ink absorption. Those properties are expected to improve further if printability improvement effect due to smoothness improvement is added.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.16-23
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• 2012

Use of security papers for monetary papers, gift certificates, and lottery tickets increases every year. As the use of security papers increase, there are more possibility of counterfeits. In this study, we used unique fibers from the sea to increase the difficulties against counterfeiting. The red algae fibers give opacity as much as calcium carbonates, and have unique shape in length ($500{\sim}900\;{\mu}m$) and width ($1{\sim}4\;{\mu}m$) to be discerned from other natural fibers such as wood and cotton fibers. We mixed red algae fibers to wood fibers in a series of fixed ratios to make single and multiply papers for making security papers. Paper with dyed red algae fibers were also used. Paper made without fillers gave enough opacity for printing when red algae fibers were used more than 20% of the fiber furnish. Those properties may allow red algae fibers to be a potential candidate for fiber raw materials of security paper.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.93-102
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• 2007

Biocomposite was organized with biodegradable polymer and natural fiber that has potential to be used as replacement for glass fiber reinforced polymer composite with the benefits of low cost, low density, acceptable specific strength, biodegradability, etc. Until now, non-wood fibers have been used as reinforcements of biocomposite which are all plant-based fibers. The present study focused on investigating the fabrication and characterization of biocomposite reinforced with red algae fiber. The bleached red algae fiber(BRAF) showed very similar crystallinity to the cellulose. It has high stability against thermal degradation (maximum thermal decomposition temperature of 359.3$^{\circ}C$) and thermal expansion. Biocomposites reinforced with BRAF have been fabricated by a compression molding method and their mechanical and thermal properties have been studied. The storage modulus and the thermomechanical stability of PBS matrix are markedly improved with reinforcing the BRAF. These results support that the red algae fiber can be used as an excellent reinforcement of biocomposites as "green-composite" or "eco-composite".

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.62-67
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• 2008

Biocomposite was fabricated with biodegradable polymer and natural fiber that has potential to be used as replacement for glass fiber reinforced polymer composite with the benefits of low cost, low density, acceptable specific strength, biodegradability, etc. Until now, mostly natural cellulosic fibers on land have been used as reinforcement for biocomposite. The present study focused on investigating the fabrication and the characterization of biocomposite reinforced with red algae fibers from the sea. The bleached red algae fiber (BRAF) showed very similar crystallinity to the wood cellulose. It has high stability against thermal degradation (maximum thermal decomposition temperature of 359.3$^{\circ}C$) and thermal expansion. Biocomposites reinforced with BRAF have been fabricated by a compression molding method and their mechanical and thermal properties have been studied. The storage modulus and the thermomechanical stability of PBS (polybuthylenesuccinate) matrix are markedly improved by reinforcing with the BRAF. These results indicate that red algae fiber can be used as an excellent reinforcement of biocomposites, which are sometimes called as "green-composites" or "eco-composites".

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.123-155
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• 2008

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.178-182
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• 2008

The bleached red algae fiber(BRAF) showed very similar crystallinity to the cellulose, furthermore, it has higher thermal decomposition temperature than that of the microcrystalline cellulose(MCC). Polypropylene biocomposites reinforced with BRAF have been fabricated with various BRAF contents by compression molding method and their mechanical and thermomechanical properties have been studied. The mechanical strength as tensile, impact and flexural modulus of BRAF/PP biocomposites were gradually improved with increasing the BRAF content, and thermal property which against the thermal expansion was markdly improved, especially. These results are compared with chopped non-woody fibers as Henequen or Kenaf, BRAF was more effective for fabrication of biocomposites reinforced small-sized fibers. The red algae fiber reinforced biocomposites has the applicability such as electronics, biodegradable products and small-structure composites.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.66-71
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• 2011

Biocomposites were fabricated with biodegradable polymers and natural fibers. Biocomposites have benefits of low cost, low density, and biodegradability over inorganic fiber composite, and give comparable strength properties. Hydrophobic polymer used for sizing in paper industry, AKD (Akenyl Keten Dimer), was applied to natural fibers, red algae fibers (RAF) in this study, to make fiber surfaces more compatible to hydrophobic nature of matrix polymers. Composites with RAF, kenaf, glass fibers, and carbon fibers have been fabricated by a compression molding method and their thermo-mechanical properties have been studied. Also, the thermal dimensional stability test was done from at 30 to $100^{\circ}C$. The storage moduli and the thermo-mechanical stabilities of polypropylene and poly lactic acid based biocomposites were improved by reinforcing with the RAF and much more with AKD treated fibers. Dimensional stability of biocomposite was also markedly improved by AKD pretrement on RAF.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2010.04a
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• pp.131-139
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• 2010