The influence of temperature (150-170degreesC), pulping time (15-45 min) and soda concentration (5-10%) in the pulping of abaca on the yield, kappa, viscosity, breaking length, stretch and tear index of pulp and paper sheets, was studied. Using a factorial design to identify the optimum operating conditions, equations relating the dependent variables to the operational variables of the pulping process were derived that reproduced the former with errors lower than 25%. Using a high temperature, and a medium time and soda concentration, led to pulp that was difficult to bleach (kappa 28.34) but provided acceptable strength-related properties (breaking length 4728m; stretch 4.76%; tear index 18.25mNm(2)/g), with good yield (77.33%) and potential savings on capital equipment costs. Obtaining pulp amenable to bleaching would entail using more drastic conditions than those employed in this work. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.