Banana Trunk Fiber as Effective Boisorbent

What is banana Trunk Fiber ?

The banana plant has always been a source of fiber. Its shoots and leaves are commonly used in producing fiber, but its trunk usually goes to waste as it is difficult to extract fiber from it. http://www.agribusinessweek.com/producing-banana-trunk-fiber-with-multi-fiber-tandem-stripper/

Banana fibers obtained from the stem of banana plant

(Musa sapientum) have been characterised for their

diameter variability and their mechanical properties,

with a stress on fracture morphology.

http://www.jeffjournal.org/papers/Volume3/Mukhopadhyay3.2.pdf

         

                               FIBER EXTRACTION:

                               Banana Fiber is extracted from Banana tree bark. The trunk is peeled. Brown-green skin is thrown away

                               retaining the cleaner or white portion which will be processed into knotted fibers.

                               The fibers are extracted through hand extraction machine composed of either serrated or non serrated

                               knives. The peel is clamped between the wood plank and knife and hand-pulled through, removing the

                               resinous material. The extracted fibers are sun-dried which whitens the fiber.

                               Once dried, the fibers are ready for knotting. A bunch of fibers are mounted or clamped on a stick to

                               facilitate segregation.

                               Each fiber is separated according to fiber sizes and grouped accordingly. To knot the fiber, each fiber

                               is separated and knotted to the end of another fiber manually. The separation and knotting is repeated

                               until bunches of unknotted fibers are finished to form a long continuous strand. This fiber can now be

                               used for making various products.

http://www.vibrantnature.co.in/bananafibredetails.htm