Members of Pineapple Leaf Group have gathered to produce paper from pineapple leaves left from pineapple harvest. The obtained paper has been used to make various types of products such as picture frames paper bags envelopes flowers key chains and so on for selling to visitors at tourist destinations and to those who came to observe the group’s production of paper and other local goods. However it is found that the product is not of much interest for the tourists as it should be. For this reason the researcher considers seeking appropriate solution to the group by using the pineapple leaves to make bas-reliefs with an aim to add value to pineapple leaf paper. From the creation of mold made of plaster and that made of resin and use both molds to make bas-reliefs it is found that the bas-reliefs obtained from resin mold are more beautiful and easier to produce. This is because resin mold is more durable clearer and lighter. The researcher has presented the bas-reliefs to 448 tourists who have come to visit the project during the period of one year and asked for their opinions and satisfactions. The results are that most of the respondents (327 persons) are female which accounts for 72.99% of all. Most of them or 352 persons (78.57%) obtain the secondary school diploma. The age range of most of the respondents (154 persons) is 31-40 years amounting to 34.38%. As for satisfactions of the quality of bas-reliefs made from pineapple leaves most of the respondents (72%) expressed “strongly agreed”. 75% of the respondents are “strongly agreed” with the product beauty. In terms of durability most of the respondents (61%) are “strongly agreed”. Concerning appropriateness of the product as souvenir most of the respondents (77%) expressed “strongly agreed”. Finally 73% of the respondents are “strongly agreed” with the idea that the product is potential for sale.

This research had a main purpose for studying the utilization of water hyacinth as the key component of paper production mixed with the agricultural waste as pineapple leaves and leaf sheath of banana tree. The paper pulps were prepared from 5 g/l NaOH at 90-95oC for 3 hours then bleaching with 5 g/l Hydrogen peroxide at 90-95oC for 30 minutes. The whole pulps were detached improvement with 5g/l Acramine 3187 before paper establishment production. Finally the strength of obtaining papers was consideration and competition to any craft paper type. As the results the appropriate ratio of paper was 70% water hyacinth (stem) 10% pineapple leaves and 20% leaf sheath of banana tree. It had 31.19 kN/m2 for bursting strength tearing strength as 309.17 mN and 0.49 mm thickness. The basis weight was 183±5 g/m2. The achieved paper was equivalent as KI craft paper. It was presented for packaging boxes and other procedures.

Recently Baan Pasang Wiwat Pineapple Leaf Community Enterprise Nanglae Sub-district Muang District Chiangrai has used a spherical cooking stove made of stainless steel to cook pineapple leaves. The cooking capacity was 40-50 kilograms each time and the cooking time was approximately 4 hours. The fuel was wood which was used for about 50 kilograms during the whole cooking process. The researcher has thought of saving the quantity of wood burned for coking by designing a new stove which would function like a charcoal kiln. It was a closed stove which would be automatically closed when the wood changed to charcoal to prevent the oxygen from entering. Then the fire would be put out and only the charcoal remained. The experimental result was that the minimum quantity of wood could be used to cook 10 kilograms of pineapple leaves and the process took 3.5 hours. However it is still difficult to find wood for use as fuel because it is rare and expensive. To solve such problem the researcher has developed and designed a pineapple leaf cooking stove which uses rice hulls as fuel. Rice hulls are easy to find and cheap so it is perfect for use as alternative fuel. In addition the size of the newly developed stove fits is suitable for completely cooking pineapple leaves by using one lot of rice hulls. After boiling 50 kilograms pineapple leaves with the stove powered by rice hulls by adding an amount of 21 kilograms of rice hulls the result was that the boiling time reduced from 4 hours to 1.5 hours. The cost of rice hulls used for each boiling was only 7.50 baht.

The old machine that is used to mix the fiber is an oval tank. Inside the tank is divided lengthwise into half and its paddle is flat and long like a file and it is installed on one side of the tank only so the flow of the fiber in the tank is not so good. There must be a person using a paddle to stir the fiber to flow inside the tank. Apart from that there was an issue that the fiber often sticks to the paddle because it is flat. The new machine is designed to have 8 circular saw blades sized Ø 10 inch to mix the leaf fiber so that it does not stick to the paddle. Apart from that the paddle is installed on both side of the tank increasing from the old machine that has only on one side in order to solve the problem about the flow of the fiber. One more issue is about bringing the fibber out from the tank. When the valve is opened the fiber cannot flow out easily because the bottom of the tank is flat. The researcher therefore design the tank to be adjustable so that it is easier to pour the fiber out from the tank. According to the experiment the boiled pineapple leaf blender can blend the boiled pineapple leaf with 30 kilograms water. The suitable speed of the blade is 500 times per minute and each blending process takes approximately 5 minutes. The time using for leaf blending also based on the paper usage e.g. for the smooth surface paper its production can follow the normal process but for the paper with rough texture the time using for fiber blending will be less.

Normally bast fibres were removed from pineapple web by wrapping the boiled pineapple leaf with nylon web and stamp on it. If using this method it will take 24 hours to stamp on 40 kilograms of boiled leaf in order to obtain clean pineapple web that is suitable for producing paper. Apart from that when pressing the fiber we need to get rid of the water as much as we can because the fiber will be weight before using to produce paper. If the water pressed out each time is not equal there may be an error about paper thickness. Moreover stamping on boiled leaf may be dangerous because the chemical substance used when boiling the leaf may burn the feet and cause wound. Currently there is a Pressing machine to separate water from pineapple fiber Rachadasak Supengcum 2010 to fix the problems mentioned above. However there is a weak point because the pressing tube is small so it can press only 1 kilogram of leaf per one time. Therefore the new machine is designed to have a pressing tube sized 30 centimeters wide and 30 centimeters long. The pressing period is 30 centimeters and the pressure for pressing is 70 bars. It takes 1 minute 15 second for one squeeze which contains 6 kilograms of pineapple leaf. It can decrease the time for pressing from the old machine by 6 times. In addition the machine is designed to have the open-close channel to bring the pressed fiber out from the machine more easily. According to the experiment to remove the bast fibres from pineapple web the most appropriate amount for each pressing is 6 kilograms. The pressing process takes 1 minute 15 second. The remaining pineapple web after the pressing is 3 kilograms