Novel banana core stem fiber from agricultural biomass for lightweight textile applications

Abstract

Ligno-cellulosic fiber has been extracted from the core part of banana pseudo stem and the physical, chemical, mechanical, thermal and morphological properties of the fiber have been analyzed. The fiber contains 62.24% cellulose which is the highest among the fibers obtained from other parts of the banana plant, 15.23% hemicellulose, 18.51% lignin, 0.29% wax, 5.03% ash and 11.53% moisture. The fiber’s low density (0.984 g/cc) and denier (1.53) and relatively higher tenacity (35.21 g/tex) makes it suitable for lightweight applications. The XRD analysis revealed the semi-crystalline nature of the fiber with a crystallinity index of 61.12%. TGA analysis found the fiber to be stable up to 250 °C after which the weight loss is much higher and occurred up to 550 °C. The SEM analysis found the fiber to be multi-fibrillar structure. The extracted fiber has been dyed with some natural and synthetic (reactive) dyes and found to exhibit brilliant colors. Artifacts such as candle wick, oil lamp wick and ear buds have been made with these fibers. The carbon deposit by the candle wick made with the banana core stem fiber is found to be 70% lesser than the cotton wick. Further research may find suitable applications for the banana core stem fiber.