Abstract
Natural fibres are a gift from nature that we still underutilise. They can be classified into several groups, and bast natural fibre reinforcement in polymer composites has the most promising performance, among others. However, numerous factors have reported influences on mechanical properties of the fibre‐reinforced composite, including natural fibre retting processes. In this review, bast fibre retting process and the effect of enzymatic retting on the fibre and fibre‐reinforced polymer composites have been discussed and reviewed for the latest research studies. All retting methods except chemical and mechanical retting processes are involving secretion of enzymes by bacteria or fungi under controlled (enzymatic retting) or random conditions (water and dew retting). Besides, enzymatic retting is claimed to have more environmentally friendly wastewater products, shorter retting period, and controllable fibre biochemical components under mild incubation conditions. This review comprehensively assesses the enzymatic retting process for producing high‐quality bast fibre and will become a reference for future development on bast fibre‐reinforced polymer composites.
Highlights
Due to the alarming rise of global warming issues and perishment of marine living organisms caused by accidentally swallowing nondegradable plastic products, awareness of plastic disposal issues had been heightened
Many users are still struggling to find suitable replacements as bioplastics have inconsistency and low performance profile. erefore, reinforcement of natural fibres on plastics was reported to strengthen products with better/or maintaining biodegradability [3, 4]. e natural fibres are renewable resources because they are produced as a part of the plant from photosynthesis, where O2 is released by absorbing CO2 gas. erefore, they decompose naturally, imposing lesser burden to our environment
Significant reduction of gum components has been observed after 120 hours of retting, higher fibre strength, productivity, and long fibre yield rate compared to the water-retted fibre
Summary
Due to the alarming rise of global warming issues and perishment of marine living organisms caused by accidentally swallowing nondegradable plastic products, awareness of plastic disposal issues (difficulties in recycling, environmental burden, and high recycle cost) had been heightened. Plant variations, and geographical variations were reported to have influenced chemical composition (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) of the natural fibres [8, 9]. Their properties can be enhanced by chemical surface treatment as discussed in detail in previous studies [10]. Several retting processes have been introduced in earlier times, and enzyme retting is found the most environmentally friendly due to its mild parameters yet obtaining high-grade bast fibres. The effects of enzyme retting on bast fibre and its polymer composites are discussed in this paper
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