The Influence of Fiber Density and Cellulose Content of Banana

and Rice Straw Fibers on Fiber Processing

and Flexural Strength
Benjamin C. Tobiasa and Loriejoy Andicob
College of Engineering and Design , Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Philippines a
Southland College, Kabankalan City, Negros, Philippinesb
Corresponding Author Email: [email protected] ; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Excessive use of wood based fibers and inefficient management of forest reserves contribute critically to shortage of
trees. Abandoned biomass, banana and rice straw, are considered as alternatives for wood in lamina or ply composite industry.
Key objective of the study is to reduce the fiber strands into particulate mechanically. It also delved on investigating the influ-
ence of fiber density and cellulose content on fiber particulate recovery and flexural strength. In line with this, the study also
investigated whether natural fibers in particulate form can be consolidated in sand cement mortar. Toward this end, fibers
were extracted and processed mechanically through hammer and milling actions. Buoyancy principle is utilized to find the spe-
cific gravity of the fibers then converted into fiber density. Fiber cellulose content is resourced. Sample deflection is obtained
from three point bending test. Flexural strength is calculated utilizing the theoretical deflection equation. An attempt is made
to integrate the fibers in sand cement composite lamina. Samples are prepared and conditioned as air dried.

Results indicated banana fiber exhibited higher density than rice straw fiber. Fiber particulate as produced mechanically
showed that banana fibers are coarser than rice straw fibers. When milled and screened, banana fibers exhibited higher recov-
ery rate of 89.4 percent, compared to rice-straw with 63.1 percent. Findings also revealed that flexural strength increased with
increasing specific cellulose, ratio of cellulose content and fiber density. Particulate banana and rice straw fibers at 30 percent
by weight are better consolidated in 1:3 cement sand mixture. Thus, cellulose content and density of the fibers are important
parameters in mechanical extraction. The degree of difficulty and rate of recovery are relatively proportional to these parame-
ters. Consolidating 30 percent of fiber particulate with sand and water-cement ratio was successfully attempted. The fibers in
particulate form exhibited characteristics conducive for ply board production.

KEYWORDS: biomass density particulate composite lamina flexural strength.

1. INTRODUCTION however, have a classic problem of variability in fiber

properties. Banana and rice straw are naturally occur-
The global occurrence of wood-based ligno- ring composite material. They grow abundantly in
cellulosic fiber is still adequate and there is today no most of the tropical countries. It is considered a com-
general fibre shortage or crises. Yet at the same time, posite material because the fiber consists of cellulose
we have some regional deficiency of wood-based fi- fiber imbedded in a lignin matrix. The major elements
bers. Industrial demand of proper wood based raw in its chemical composition are cellulose 63 to 64 per-
materials is critical in several Asian countries. The cent and lignin, 5 percent. Banana fiber is a natural
strong economic growth in Asia has contributed to leaf fiber with an average fiber length of about 2mm, a
increased demand of wood-based raw materials. diameter of 12 to 30µm, and a tensile strength ranging
Wood-based biomass is becoming more restricted and from 520 MPa to 750 MPa and a density of about 1.35
expensive for producers of pulp and paper, bio-energy, g/cm3. Banana is the common name for herbaceous
lumber, and wood-based composite fiber boards. plants of the genus musa family musaceae and is
Moreover, the increasing environmental awareness also the name given to the fruit of this plant[1]. Banana
and concerns of the health of forests, wildlife diversity, fiber is a natural bast fiber. Compiled from Philippines
biomass productivity, climate, and the biological sink Textile Research Institute[2], and from Thailand Textile
directs research to alternative fiber recourses. Consid- Institute[3] banana fiber has 61.5% alpha cellulose, and
erable research effort had been done to find some 15% lignin. In his study, Banana fiber strands was
alternate fibers, such as natural fibers. Natural fibers, successfully consolidated into composite lamina[4].

32 International Research Journal on Innovations in Engineering, Science and Technology

 IRJIEST — The Influence of Fiber Density...

The purpose of the study, was to consider specific gravity measurements in accordance with
natural fibers in its technical form, reduced to particu- ASTM D-792, through buoyancy tests with water as the
late to be used as major constituent in lamina compos- medium for immersion. The same concept was used to
ites. This was done by reducing mechanically the fiber set up the apparatus in this study. It consisted of an
strands into fiber particulate and simultaneously inves- electronic balance with a sample holder attached to a
tigate their particulate recovery and flexural modulus metal frame acting as a inker. The sinker, while resting
characteristics as a function of fiber density and cellu- on the balance, was used to immerse the specimen
lose content. Fiber strand extraction was facilitated completely into the water bath. With no specimen in
manually for sampling purposes, primarily by hammer- the sample holder, the sinker and sample holder were
ing and milling. Consequently, a composite lamina was immersed in the water bath and the balance set to
developed to demonstrate the possibility of consoli- zero. The sinker with the sample holder was then
dating the fiber particulate with sand cement paste as withdrawn from the water bath and a randomly the
the matrix or adhesive. In line with this a critical vol- selected weighed fiber specimen placed in mesh
ume fraction has to be considered to ascertain a ho- holder. Together, it was then immersed into the water
mogeneous panel board. within 10 seconds and the apparent mass recorded.
The time of immersion minimized soaking of fibers
2. MATERIALS & METHODS with water. The specific gravity was determined and
the fiber density was calculated using the appropriate
The natural fibers investigated in this study equation with density of water taken at 24OC.
were taken from banana and rice straw, considered to
have a cellulose structure as mentioned by Eichhorn S 2.2 Weighted Proportions
J, et al.[5], Shiraishi N.[6], and Olesen [7]. Cellulose, a pri-
mary component of the fibre, is a linear condensation In order to design a composite lamina with
polymer consisting of Danhydro-glucopyranose units specific ratios of natural fiber strand, proportions of
joined together by ß-1, 4-glucosidic bonds. The long fiber and matrix has to be properly evaluated base on
chains of cellulose are linked together in bundles called the properties of each constituent. Prior knowledge
micro-fibrils. Hemicelluloses are also found in all plant about the properties of the constituents is required
fibres shown in Figure 1. before the lamina is fabricated. Unfortunately, neither
the banana fiber nor the rice straw has uniform cross
section which makes the determination of fiber
volume fraction difficult. The weight of these materials
Figure 1. Longitudinal and Cross-section of a Fibre Cell [Afa however, can be conveniently found by standard
Austin Waifielate Bolarinma Oluseun Abiola (2008) weighing procedure. This weight can be converted into
volume fraction using Equation 1, when desired. Tobias
In many countries, straw is an abundant cellu- (2001) relates the significant relationship between the
losic by-product from the production of crops such as fiber weight (wf), fiber volume fraction (vf ), filler
wheat, corn, soybean and rice. The natural fiber comes volume fraction (vr), matrix volume fraction (vm), fiber
from stalks, leaves, and seeds, such as kenaf, sisal, flax, density (rf), and matrix density (rm), given in Equation
wheat straw and rice straw[8]. It represents around 1.
45% of the volume in rice production, producing the
largest quantity of crop residue. Rice straw has the vf=(wf/ρf)/( wf/ρm+(1-wf)/ρm) (1)
most amount of cellulose from agricultural crop
residues because its composition is cellulose (38.3%), 2.3 Medium density panel board
hemicelluloses (31.6%) and lignin (11.8%)[9]. Further-
more, Sridach[10] mentioned rice straw has alpha cellu- Figure 2 delineates orthogonal properties
lose 28-36%, and lignin 12-16%, and banana alpha when the panel board is designed and developed. The
cellulose 55-65%, and lignin 2-4%. mechanical properties have to be uniformed in all di-
rections. Homogeneity, even dispersion of fiber par-
2.1 Fiber density ticulate, is an important parameter. This is conceptual-
ized that the flexural strength, E, of the panel board is
Studies showed inconsistent results of fiber the same in x, y, and z direction. By the rule of mixture,
density in natural fiber. Manohar[11] investigated Equation 2, it implies that:

International Research Journal on Innovations in Engineering, Science and Technology 33

IRJIEST — The Influence of Fiber Density...

Epanel board = Ex = Ey = Ez = Ef vf + Em vm, (2) the use of kinematics and dynamics mechanism, to
separate the lignin fraction of lignocelluloses materials
where subscript f and m stands for fiber and from the cellulose. The separation of lignin from ligno-
matrix, respectively celluloses biomass has been well documented using
z the chemical process and by organic solvent. Numer-
ous attempts were made in pulping process using dif-
Panelboard
y ferent solvent system to selectively separate cellulose,
hemicelluloses and lignin even using the stem of fiber
x
crop. This study used six step process or pulping tech-
Figure 2. Orthogonal manifestation of composite lamina niques. In essence, micro-fiber as defined in this study
has been considered as particulate with 425µm size.
Equation 2 implies that for the lamina to be The sequence of events started with extraction of fiber
homogeneous, its properties should be similar in strands from raw materials, followed by cutting of
orthogonal components. The property measured in strands into short fibers, de-lignition or size reduction
this study is modulus of elasticity. through hammering and milling, screening with 40
mesh sieve, and finally storing of particulate. This
2.4 Experimentation supply complimented the size of fine sand, as the other
constituent for composite lamina. Foremost, the study
An experimental method was carried out to eliminated the use of chemical application during the
generate data that could support the output of the de-lignition process.
study. Included was an experimental observation
required to qualitatively assess the mechanical extrac- 2.6 Flexural Test
tion of the fibers. Scientific observation is predominant
in some steps of the research process. It serves as the The flexural properties of the composite
foundation of correct and accurate information. lamina were obtained by three-point bending configu-
Description clarifies or pictures the information accu- ration in accordance with ASTM-D70-81. The flexural
mulated through observation. strength was calculated as the modulus of rupture
(MOR) in three-point bending using Equation 3, where
2.5 Microfiber extraction P is the maximum load recorded during the test, l is
the specimen span, b is the specimen width and d is
Growing worldwide importance of the utiliza- the specimen depth. In this study a span of 70 mm was
tion of various non-wood plant fibers, as an alternative considered.
to wood pulp, in the manufacture of pulp, paper and 3Pl
paper board is now well established. Many non-wood MOR  (3)
2bd 2
fibers such as bamboo, jute, straw, rice, and abaca are
currently used in small commercial pulping operation.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Pulping is done to liberate the fibers from
lignin and hemicelluloses, which can be accomplished As shown in Table 1, which was graphically
chemically or mechanically or by combining these two translated into Figure 4, banana fiber has higher
type of treatment. Mechanical pulping is characterized density of 425.9kg/m3, as compared with rice straw
by the use of kinematics & dynamics mechanism, to with 398.29kg/m3. The natural fibers showed slight
separate the lignin fraction of lignocelluloses materials significant difference in the fiber densities. The relative
from the cellulose. accuracy of test results in fiber density measurements,
based on buoyancy procedure was statistically inferred
Mechanical pulping has been considered a in Table 1. This showed that natural fibers have varying
sound solution for micro-fiber extraction. Pulping is a degree of uncertainties in relation to fiber source and
process to liberate the fibers from lignin and hemi- type. The results also inferred the influence of
celluloses, which can be accomplished chemically or cellulose content. The higher percentage of cellulose
thermally or by combining these two types of treat- content the denser was the fiber.
ment. Mechanical pulping, however, was facilitated by

34 International Research Journal on Innovations in Engineering, Science and Technology

 IRJIEST — The Influence of Fiber Density...

Take the case of banana fiber against rice- higher density

straw fiber. Shidach[10] found in his study the alpha
cellulose content of banana fiber or hemp bast type, The results showed different levels of size re-
65% whereas, rice-straw, 36%, in the upper range. In duction, as shown, with banana fiber, Figure 5, and rice
this study, banana fiber density 425.9kg/m3, and rice- -straw fiber, Figure 7, giving the distinctive appearance
straw 398.2 kg/m3, a difference of 6.5%. On these and reduction in size.
bases it was found that banana fiber has higher cellu-
lose content to weight ratio of 15.3% as compared to Figure 3 delineates that banana fiber has the
rice-straw of 9.0%, a difference of 41.2%. This showed most recovered, 89.4%, while rice-straw is having the
that when cellulose content to density ratio was taken least recovered, 63.1%. When measured against the
into account, the difference became significant. cellulose content, the results showed that high
cellulose content gives high recovery rate. Also as
Table 1. Solid fiber strand specific gravity test delineated in Figure 3, the fiber particulate recovery
Test number Banana Rice straw from fiber strands, the fibers exhibited significant dif-
1 0.1607 0.2128 ference, when all screened in No.40 mesh sieve. The
2 0.2000 0.3636 results inferred that fibers of these types have signifi-
3 0.3636 0.4194
cant difference in their densities and recovery factor
4 0.1089 0.3529
but to a lesser extent. Indeed the fibers were success-
5 1.4286 0.3704
fully extracted and turned into fine particles by me-
6 0.4651 0.4500
chanical means.
7 0.3636 0.6250
8 0.2500 0.4400
9 0.2143 0.3571
10 0.7143 0.4000
ave.spgr 0.4269 0.3991
ave.density (kg/m3) 425.9 398.2

It has been observed that the strand contains

micro-cells, which can also be manually extracted. It Figure 4. Banana fiber Figure 5. Banana micro
was through this observation that the micro-fiber strands 1minute and -fibers through No. 40
double pass milled sieve screened
mechanical separation was conceptualized. The results hammered
hammered
of the initial step in fiber size reduction are shown in
Figures 5, 6, and 7. They were achieved by cutting the
The degree of difficulty in hammering and
strands into short fibers, followed by hammering or
milling of natural fibers was again influenced by the
pounding for 1 minute with controlled intensity. The
cellulose content and density of the fibers. High
fibers were then milled in two passes.
cellulose content exhibited more difficulty in reducing
the size. As a result, size reduction with uniform
distinction was done through the process of screening.

Figures 5 and 7 showed the results after the

screening process. As observed, and shown in Figure 4
and Figure 6, banana fiber is coarser than rice straw
fiber. As figured out, the natural fiber has relative
amount of particulate. Noticeably, in terms of their
recovery, the fibers were all reduced to particulate size
but with different amount. Quantifying such parameter
was done through the recovery factor. In this case a
measure of particulate weight against the original
weight of the short fibers.

Figure 3. Banana fiber higher

recovery rate and

International Research Journal on Innovations in Engineering, Science and Technology 35

IRJIEST — The Influence of Fiber Density...

tute in the composite. As expressed in Equation 1, the

volume fraction of fiber is a function of both fiber
density and weight fraction. Thus fiber density could
dictate the fiber critical volume fraction that can be
consolidated soundly. with homogeneous property.

4. CONCLUSION
Figure 6. Rice straw Figure 7. Rice straw
hammered 1minute micro-fibers screened Cellulose content and density of the fibers are
and double pass through No. 40 sieve important parameters in mechanical extraction. Fiber
milled cellulose content and fiber density influenced the fiber
strand and processed particulate. Accordingly, the
higher the ratio, cellulose content to density, the more
difficult to extract the fibers. On the other hand, higher
recovery rate of fiber particulate exhibited at higher
ratio. When measured against the specific cellulose
content in terms of flexural property, the banana fibers
performed better than rice straw fibers. Consolidating
30 percent of fiber particulate with 1:3 cement sand
ratio was successfully attempted. The fibers in particu-
late form exhibited characteristics conducive for ply
board production.

REFERENCES

Figure 8. Banana fiber higher modulus than [1] Huther, AM. 1998. Utilization of annual plants agri-
rice straw fiber cultural residues for the production of pulp and
paper. TAPPI pulping conference. P.39.
The flexural modulus of banana and rice straw
fibers were also influenced by specific cellulose [2] Philippine Textile Research Institute, 2005, Fiber
content, which is a measure of modulus over density. properties
As delineated in Figure 8, the higher density is propor-
tional to fiber cellulose content. This relationship was [3] Thailand Textile Institute, 2008
found to be in direct correlation with flexural proper-
ties of the fibers. The effect of fiber density was signifi- [4] TOBIAS, BC. 2001. Banana fiber consolidated com-
cant in bending test results, in particular the modulus posite lamina, 8th annual international conference
of elasticity. on composite engineering, Tenerife Island, Spain.

[5] EICHHORN S J, et al, 2001, Review current interna-

tional research into cellulosic fibres and compos-
ites.Journal of Material Science and technology,36,
2107-213
Figure 9. Consolidated natural fiber particulate in
cement-sand matrix [6] SHIRAISHI, N., 2001 Wood and cellulosic chemistry,
2 ed.. Marcel Dekker: New York
Figure 9 showed the technical transformation
of panel board from mortar Investigated in prior study, [7] OLESEN, P.O. 1999. Perspectives on the perform-
a 1:3 cement sand mortal (left) was considered appro- ance of natural plant fibres. The Royal Veterinary
priate. In this matrix, 30% by weight (15percent by and Agricultural University, Taastrup, Denmark.
volume) of banana (middle) and rice straw (right) fiber Conference 27 – 28 May, Copenhagen, Denmark
particulate have been successfully added as a consti-

36 International Research Journal on Innovations in Engineering, Science and Technology

 IRJIEST — The Influence of Fiber Density...

[8] GARSIA, M. et al. 2008, Influence of natural fiber

type in eco-composites. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 107,
2994–3004.

[9] HESSIEN, M.M. et al. 2009, Controlling the synthe-

sis conditions for silica nanosphere from semi-
burned rice straw. J. Mater. Sci. Eng.162, 14–21

[10] SHIDACH, W, 2010, The environmentally benign

pulping process of non-wood fibers, Suranaree J.
Sci. Tech. 17(2):105-123.

[11] MANOHAR, K., 2012, Experimental investigation

of building thermal insulation from agricultural by
-products, British Journal of Applied Science &
Technology, 2(3): 227-238.

International Research Journal on Innovations in Engineering, Science and Technology 37