Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Mechanically Extracted Banana (MUSA) Fibers from Top Ten Sri Lankan Cultivars

Abstract

The fiber from banana plant (Musa) is an agricultural waste and an abundantly available renewable resource. The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the effect of the mechanical extraction parameters on fiber properties of the ten varieties of banana fiber. This research paper gives physical and chemical properties of 10 selected banana fiber varieties in Sri Lanka. Decortications method are utilized in this study. The instruments used by the researcher were a universal tensile strength machine, Optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM), Data color Spectrophotometer, and FT-IR spectrophotometer. The different banana cultivars vary in properties, the variation being of the order of 63% in terms of diameter (from maximum to minimum),44% in terms of fiber liner density, 31% in terms of strength, 67% in terms of elongation, and 13% in terms of moisture regain. The FTIR absorption bonds revealed that cellulose and non-cellulose components were present in these banana cultivars of fibers. The color of banana fiber varies according to the variety, from off-white natural color to cream, and have little luster effect. The inherent properties of banana fiber obtained from different varieties of stem vary considerably.

Keywords

• sri lankan banana varieties
• banana fiber
• tensile strength
• optical microscope
• scanning electron microscope (sem)
• ft-ir spectrophotometer