INVESTIGATION INTO THE TEXTILE APPLICATIONS OF FIBRES

EXTRACTED FROM PANDANUS UTILIS

Mrs. A. Vaidya Soochetaa.soocheta@uom.ac.mu

Textile Technology DepartmentUniversity of Mauritius

Assoc. Prof. Dr. S. Rosunee (UoM)Prof. Dr. M. D. Teli (UICT, Mumbai)

The ‘Pandanus utilis’ plant, commonly known as ‘Vacoas’ in Mauritius, demonstrates a potential as a tangible textile fibre

The fibre presents endless possibilities for textile applications, all of which are just waiting to be harnessed

The common screwpine (Pandanus utilis) is, despite its name, a tropical tree and not a pine (Common screwpine)

• Binomial name: Pandanus utilis• Scientific Classification • Kingdom: Plantae• Division: Magnoliophyta• Class:Liliopsida• Order: Pandanales• Family: Pandanaceae• Genus: Pandanus• Species: P. utilis• Common name: Pandano, Vacoas • Place of origin: Madagascar, Mauritius

DRY LEAVES

FLOWERS

VACOAS

• The leaves are linear and spiny, with a spiral arrangement on the tree. Care must be taken when handling the leaves because of their sharp spines

• Sun Exposure: Full sun• Growth Habits: Branched evergreen shrub

to 20 feet tall (6 m)• Watering Needs: Regular to abundant

water• Propagation: Seeds

AIM

Characterise and evaluate the textile potential of Pandanus utilis as a new source for textile fibres

Currently the leaves of this plant find limited application for making baskets, wall hanging and other decorative items

LEAVES SLICED

DRIED IN SUN

BUNDLE OF DRIED LEAVES

METHODOLOGY

Retting De-gumming of Decorticated Fibre BundlesScouringBleaching Dissolution in Sulphuric Acid

Mechanical, chemical and enzymatic retting treatments were carried out to optimise the extraction process of the fibres

Retting

• Water retting• Chemical treatment:

Sodium hydroxide and Sodium carbonate Hydrogen peroxide and Sodium silicate

• Effect of Sodium Hydroxide • Treatment with NaOH and Na2CO3

• Treatment with Oxalic Acid• Treatment with Alkaline Pectinase• Treatment with Acidic Pectinase

Retting- Extract fibres Retting process optimised to separate and remove non-cellulosic material like lignin, pectin

De-gumming of Decorticated Fibre Bundles• NaOH and Na2CO3

• Oxalic Acid• Alkaline Pectinase• Acidic Pectinase• Enzyme Mixture – Xylanase and Cellulase

Scouring• Degummed decorticated fibres led to

pronounced loss of strength without much separation of fibres

• Untreated decorticated fibres were used for further scouring with varying concentrations of NaOH and non ionic detergent

Bleaching

• Sodium Hypochlorite Bleaching• Hydrogen Peroxide Bleaching

RESULTS

The leaves of young un-branched trees are long and supple, whereas the leaves of older, branched trees are rigid

Leaves are made of fibre bundles in the form of phloem tissue bundle

Scanning Electron Microscope longitudinal and cross-section observations of their ‘composite’ structure

Cross-section (5X)

Cross-section (10X)

• Water retting: wet strength greater than the dry strength. As the duration of water retting increases, the strength of the strength of fibre is reduced

Retting

• Chemical treatment:

NaOH treatment offer cleaner fibre bundles, where the covering sheath of the fibre bundles was removed more efficiently

NaOH H2O2

• Effect of Sodium Hydroxide Load VS NaOH Concentration

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

NaOH concentration (g/l)

Lo

ad

(k

G)

Load

Concentration of alkali increases, the fibre bundles more removal of non-fibrous material. However the strength, weight loss, appearance do not conform to the observation.Attributed to maturity and location of bundles in leaves

• Treatment with NaOH and Na2CO3

3g/l concentration of NaOH and Na2CO3 at 80o C offered good results.

At 120o C with 7g/l NaOH and 3g/l Na2CO3 showed improved results

• Treatment with Oxalic Acid• Treatment with Alkaline Pectinase• Treatment with Acidic Pectinase

The samples treated did not show any noticeable separation of fibres from leaves.

To get a combined effect of various parameters, Box-Behnken method was used for optimizations

De-gumming of Decorticated Fibre Bundles

• NaOH and Na2CO3

• Oxalic Acid• Alkaline Pectinase• Acidic Pectinase• Enzyme Mixture – Xylanase and Cellulase

Degummed decorticated fibres did not lead without much separation of fibres

Scouring

• 3% NaOH concentration was chosen for scouring as further bleaching would lead to strength reduction accompanied with improvement in appearance.

• Not practical to reduce the strength of the fibre bundles to a large extent at the scouring stage.

Bleaching

Bleaching

agent

Strength Whiteness

H2O24 4

NaOCl 3 3/4

Samples was assessed against the grey scale5, 4-5, 4, 3-4, 3, 2-3, 2, 1-2, 1.5 = no visual change1 = large visual change

FTIR 8400S Analysis • Mechanically removed fibre bundle from dry leaves and fibre

bundles obtained after retting, scouring and bleaching were subjected to FTIR analysis to determine the functional groups present.

Functional Groups

Peak Wave no. cm-1 Functional group

1 1050 C=C

2 3200-3000 Aromatic

3 3600-3300 -OH =>3400 strong and

broad

FTIR analysis of fibre bundles obtained from mechanical and chemical retting, conclude that the scouring and bleaching do not lead to any substantial change enough to be seen in the FTIR analysis.

800100012001400160018002000240028003200360040001/cm

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

%T

Non Rated2Natural Fibre6

Natural Fibre

Study of the structure and physical properties such as morphological characterisation, their mechanical behaviour in tensile tests, restates its competence as a textile fibre

CONCLUSION

The research findings demonstrated from the investigations of the fibres extracted from leaves show positive results

Pandanus utilis (Vacoa) fibres posses’ great potential to be used as fibre.

Due to its impressive strength it can be found useful for technical textile application.

Proper utilisation of this indigenously available natural resource will open-up new avenues for this natural asset

• Bhattacharya S.D., Shah J. N., (2004), Enzymatic treatment of flax fabric, Textile Research Jr., 74/7, p622-628.

• EarleT., 1947. Retting Method [Online] Available at: <http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2407227.pdf> [Accessed 2 December 2008].

• Evans J. D., Akin D.E. , Morrison W. H., Himmelsbach D. S., Mcalister D. D., Foulk J. A., (2003) Modifying Dew-Retted Flax Fibers and Yarns with a Secondary Enzymatic Treatment, Textile Research Journal, Vol. 73, No. 10, 901-906

• Jarvis M.C., (1988), A Survey of Pectic Content of Non-Lignified Monocot Cell walls, Plant Physiol., 88, p309-314.

• Linda B., Kimmel L.B., Boylston E. K., (2001), Non-traditionally Retted Flax for Dry cotton Blend Spinning, Textile research Jr., 71/5, 375-380.

REFRENCES

• Kyung Hun Song (2006), Chemical and Biological Retting of Kenaf Fibres, Textile Research Journal, Vol. 76, No. 10, p751-756.

• Patra A.K., (2003), Enzymes For Wet-Processing Pretreatments, Textile Asia, 34/9, p546-573.

• Zhang J., Johansson G., (2003), Effects of acidic media Pre-incubation on flax enzyme retting efficiency, Textile Research Jr., 73/3, p263-267.

REFRENCES

Remembering the immortal support of special people in my life

Shailesh Kharkar and

Mukesh Soocheta

Mrs. Anagha Vaidya Soochetaa.soocheta@uom.ac.mu