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News @ AsiaOne
'Hybrid' paper created to ease ash woes
A trio of Singapore Poly students has developed a form of "hybrid" paper that produces dramatically less ash when burned. -myp

Fri, Dec 31, 2010
my paper
By Gerrard Lai
THEY were irked by the mess created by the burning of incense paper in their neighbourhoods, especially during religious or traditional festivals.
So, the group of Singapore Polytechnic (SP) students made it their final-year project to develop a form of "hybrid" paper that produces dramatically less ash when burned.
The trio - Mr Keng Wei Yang, 19; Ms Humaira Ahmad, 19; and Ms Raya Chowdhury, 22, from SP's School of Chemical and Life Sciences - spent a year on the project under the supervision of their lecturer, Dr Wong Yunyi.
To create the hybrid paper, the students blended various types of commercially available paper.
They predict that, if widely used in Singapore, their invention would reduce the total amount of ash produced annually by about 60 per cent, to about 38 tonnes.
Based on their own calculations, the students estimated that 90 tonnes of ash is produced here every year by the burning of incense, especially during traditional festivals like the Hungry Ghost Festival.
Ms Humaira said: "We were frustrated that some of the ash got blown into our homes, dirtying our floors."
Ms Chowdhury added that "the burning of incense paper also causes an unsightly mess and dirties the environment".
Town councils have tried to reduce the mess by providing drum cylinders or concrete pits at designated locations for residents to burn their incense paper and offerings.
The students' hybrid paper will cost 9.33 per cent less than other types of incense paper in the market.
But it may take a while before the students' invention becomes commercially viable, as they have yet to market it.
"We are still improving the paper-making process," said Mr Keng. "We will consider pitching it to the market when the product's quality has been refined."

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