All of the samples could be best described as various shades of gray; however, substitution level affects some individual components of color. According to Newhall (1957), humans have difficultly quantifying small differences in color. Therefore, the differences shown on the lightness graph are likely negligible, as are the changes in hue angle, which while as high as 9.1°(from 79.0 to 88.1), all remained in the green spectrum. The chroma changes are more marked than other measures of color, but this should not negatively impact consumer opinion, as Jung, et al. (2012) found that consumers have a greater tolerance for variations in the color of paper products that they know were recycled. Overall, as the percent substitution increases, water absorbency and water solubility both increase. However, there is no significant difference for these samples compared to the newsprint control. Based on this data, it should be possible to replace at least 40% of the newsprint pulp with pineapple pomace or cornhusk pulp. However, additional testing should be performed to determine if the product has sufficient mechanical strength. Development of Sustainable Fiberboard Packaging Material from Food Industry Waste Emily Bender † and George Cavender ‡ †- Department of Biological Systems Engineering, ‡- Department of Food Science and Technology Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank UCARE for providing funding for this research and Nathalia Soibelman for her assistance in performing tests. Results Abstract Discussion & Conclusions Introduction Fiberboard is an important packaging material in the food industry. Unfortunately, the production price has increased due the decreasing access to affordable pulp. The price is expected to continuously escalate due to the growing demand of recovered paper (Szabó et al., 2009). Additionally, there is an excess of waste in the agricultural and food industry. This waste is often used in a manner that provides little to no value. However, with minimal processing, value can be added. Vegetable and fruit byproducts can provide a source of pulp. Specifically, corn stover and fruit pomace can be utilized in the production of fiberboard; this both increases the value of the waste and improves the sustainability of the fiberboard. The aim of this project is to determine the feasibility of producing fiberboard containing these food industry waste products, as well as determine an appropriate formula. Decreasing affordable access to fiberboard pulp has escalated the significance of developing a sustainable fiberboard material. Food industry waste can provide a source for a more sustainable, affordable pulp. Utilization of waste such as fruit pomace and corn stover adds value as well as decreases the excess of waste in the food and agricultural industry. In this study, varying substitutions of pineapple pomace and cornhusk pulp were combined with newsprint pulp and pressed into fiberboard samples. Commercially manufactured fiberboard as well as 100% recycled newsprint fiberboard were used as controls. Water absorption, water solubility, and colorimetry tests were performed on the samples. The data show that water absorption for each test sample stayed relatively consistent up to 40% substitution, with the corn husk samples having the highest absorption. The solubility for the commercial product was comparable to the pineapple samples up to 40% substitution and to the corn samples up to 50%. The color tests revealed that as the percent substitution increased for the samples, the color became less similar to the newsprint sample but more similar to the commercial sample. Additionally, while the differences in the lightness and hue are negligible, the change in chroma intensity, while marked, should not negatively impact consumer opinions of the product. Based on the results, we suggest that pomace and/or corn waste can be substituted for paper pulp in this type of packaging, at levels as high as 40%, with negligible effect on packaging properties. References Jung, H., Suk, H., Kitaguchi, S., Sato, T., & Kajiwara, K. (2012). Color tolerance prediction for recycled paper based on consumers' awareness. Color Research & Application, 37(4), 272-280. Newhall, S., Burnham, R., & Clark, J. (1957). Comparison of Successive with Simultaneous Color Matching. Journal of the Optical Society of America, 47, 43-54. Szabó, L., Soria, A., Forsström, J., Keränen, J. T., & Hytönen, E. (2009). A world model of the pulp and paper industry: Demand, energy consumption and emission scenarios to 2030. Environmental Science & Policy, 12(3), 257- 269. Methods and Materials Tests: -Water absorption: dried sample immersed in water for 2 hours, initial and final weight measurements recorded -Water solubility: dried samples soaked in distilled water for 2 hours, samples discarded, water placed in 90C oven, change in weight recorded -Color: tested all samples for L*, c*, and h* values using a Minolta Colorimeter According to the data, water absorption was in the low 300% for the newsprint control, commercial control, and pineapple sample up to 40% substitution. The corn sample had a greater water absorption from the beginning. However, both the pineapple and corn samples had a relatively consistent water absorption up to 40% and then increased. The data shows that the water solubility for the newsprint control was near 0 grams soluble per 100 grams total, and it was slightly higher for the commercially manufactured sample at about 1.7 grams soluble per 100 grams total. The solubility remained near the commercial product for the pineapple samples up to 40% and for the corn samples up to 50%. Following these percentages, both products resulted in increasing water solubility. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% ∆E Percent Substitution Absolute color difference (∆E) Compared to Commercial Sample Pineapple Corn Newsprint The color testing data reveals differences in the sample colors. The pineapple pomace and the cornhusk samples start out near the newsprint; however, the ∆E value decreases as the substitution percentage increases. The lightness graph’s relatively consistent trend does not greatly fluctuate as substitution increases, while the chroma increases for both the pineapple and the corn samples. The hue angle graph shows slightly inconsistent results for the pineapple and corn samples; however, these values are contained in a small range slightly above the commercial value. Results 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0% 20% 40% 60% Solubility (g Soluble/100 g Total) Percent Substitution Water Solubility of Fiberboard Samples Pineapple Corn Newsprint Commercial 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 0% 20% 40% 60% Water Absorption (%) Percent Substitution Water Absorption of Fiberboard Samples Pineapple Corn Newsprint Commercial 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% Lightness (L*) Percent Substitution Lightness Pinapple Corn Commercial 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% Chroma (c*) Percent Substitution Chroma Pinapple Corn Commercial 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% Hue angle (h*) Percent Substitution Hue angle Pinapple Corn Commercial Newsprint vs. pineapple pomace substitutions Newsprint vs. cornhusk substitutions Water Newsprint/ Corn waste/ Pineapple pomace 115 g slurry (97.7% water) placed in press 8-12 h Drying Oven (90 C) Demolding