CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Banana (Musa spp.) is one of the important fruit and vegetable crop plants
in the world. In North Eastern region of India banana is one of the most
important horticultural crop having unique germplasms of economic
importance. North east India has a vast potential of extraction and value
addition of natural fiber, especially from banana. India is the largest
banana producer in the world. The edible bananas constitute 43% of world
production. The fruit has 22.2% carbohydrate, 1.1 % protein, 0.84 %
fibre, 0.2% fat and 75.7% water. It is rich in vitamin B6, potassium and
has lots of medicinal properties. After harvesting, the pseudo stem of
banana is disposed as a waste material. However, natural bast fiber can be
obtained from the pseudo stem, fronds and rachis. It is a lignocellulosic
material mainly consists of polysaccharides with cellulose microfibrils
embedded with hemicelluloses, lignin, pectin and water soluble
components [Blanco Sieiro and Villa (1999)].]Banana pseudostem contains-
59.18 % cellulose, 17.5 % hemicellulose, 54.6% Alpha-cellulose, 1.4% ash
and 18.2 % lignin.[Hankin, Zucker, Sands. (1971)] The lignocellulosic
content of the banana sheath is in the range of 60%–85% of its dry
weight. The fibre content of the above material is 54.3% and can be
effectively used as a source of natural fibres.
Natural cellulose based fibres are increasingly gaining importance for new
composite formulation and enhancement of their mechanical properties
with their wide range of application [Goswami, Kalita and Rao.(2008]. In

1
comparison to synthetic fibers the natural fibers are with numerous
advantages like it arise from their renewability, low cost, wide availability
and stiffness etc[Khan, Sarkar, Imam, Malinen. (2013)] .Banana fibres can
be used for various purposes such as in textile, paper or handicrafts
industry. Relatively higher tensile strength and stiffness of banana fibre
make it more promising fibre material [Kapoor, Beg, Bhushan, Dadhich and
Hoondal.2000]. Longer fibres (1.7mm) of banana results in more yarns
production. Moreover, the higher yarn strength of banana fibre facilitate for
blending with other natural or synthetic fibres for production of blended
fabric and textiles. Though, fibre extraction from banana pseudo stem is
not practiced commonly, however, it gaining momentum in few banana
growing belts of Assam.
Banana fibres can be extracted by mechanical, chemical or by biological
methods. Mechanically extracted banana fibres contain some adhering
gums consisting of pectin and hemicelluloses, so it is necessary to degum
the fibre before using as a raw material for textiles. On the other hand
chemical method of banana fibre extraction causes environmental hazards
and reduces the fibre strength.
The extraction of banana fibres using biological natural retting has already
been reported [Girisha, Sanjeevamurthy and Guntiranga. 2012].The natural
fibres are generally obtained from plant stem by retting process through
microbial decomposition of pectin which binds with woody inner core of the
plant stem. The retting process involves the cumulative activity of both
water and microbial action to separate the plant fiber. It also has major
impact on fiber quality and production efficiency. Besides varietal

2
differences, other factors like influences of climatic conditions, soil, water,
pH, ripeness of plant material at harvest, and harvesting method play an
important role for quality management of banana fibres. Moreover,
enzymes are going to have great potential in bast fibre processing and
modification for blending with other fibres. Enzymes are able to modify
fibre parameters with desired properties, improve processing results and
ecology in the area of bast fibre processing and fabric finishing. Enzymes
are bio-active compounds or catalyst which acts on regulation of various
biochemical reactions in living tissues and cells [Silva, Martins, Silva and
Gomes.(2002)]. Among the enzymes pectinases have great
biotechnological potential with involvement in many industrial processes
including processing of fibres. The choice for microbial source for pectinase
production depends on the type of culture required for their production,
(solid-state or submerged fermentation), number and type of the produced
pectinases (esterases, hydrolytic depolymerases and eliminative
depolymerases), pH and thermal stability of the enzymes, and genotypic
characteristic of the strain (wild type, mutagenized strain, and homologous
or heterologous recombination). [Yogesh, et al.(2009)]. Pectinase
enzymes are sourced from different genera of bacteria, fungi, yeast and
some actinomycete are reported among which fungi are the maximum
producer of secondary metabolites and extracellular enzymes including
pectinases. Enzyme production involving microorganisms have more
advantages including production at higher level in reduced cost. Among the
fungal sources the Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Erwiniamainly genera are
most frequently used over the years for enzyme production studies.

3
Filamentous fungi are most widely used for commercial production of
pectinase enzyme. There is increasing demand for pectinase enzyme with
high stability in various industries including textile industry along with other
biotechnological uses to overcome the limitation of existing commercial
pectinase. Though there are many reports on pectinase enzyme production
from microorganism isolated from different geographical location of India
however, in the context to North-eastern part of India limited work have
been reported on the microbial pectinase production and its application in
textile industry. After extracting the natural banana fibres, degumming is
essential for removal of heavily coated, non-cellulosic gummy material from
the cellulosic part of plant fibres. The degumming with microbial enzymatic
process has been proven to reduce the consumption of chemicals and
energy in different fibre crops. Pectinases are a group of enzymes
produced by a large number of microorganisms which contribute to the
breakdown of pectic materials and plays leading role in the degumming of
natural fibres . Pectinolytic enzymes have been applied to the degumming
of jute, sunn hemp, flax and coconut fibres for textile application. When
the fibres are treated with pectinase, the middle lamella gets destroyed
facilitating separation of fibres. The degumming with microbial enzymatic
process has been proven to reduce the consumption of chemicals and
energy in different fibre crops. The present study intends to explore
microbial isolates with desirable biochemical and physicochemical
characteristics for utilization in enzymatic extraction and degumming of
banana fibres. (Mellon and Cotty, (2004))

4
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

1.1.1 Banana fibre

The production of high quality natural fibres is as much of an art and

science. The process of obtaining natural fibre from plant stem is known as
Retting. It is the microbial decomposition of pectin, which binds the fibres
to the woody inner core of the stem of the plant. The process employs
water and microbial action to separate fibre from the woody core (i.e. the
Xylem) and surrounding the epidermis as well. This process has major
impact on the final product quality. Besides differences in variety, the
influence of climatic conditions and soil, ripeness at harvest and harvesting
method, the retting procedure is of crucial importance to the process ability
of the fibers. Alkali treatment of cellulosic fibers, also called mercerization,
is the usual method to produce high quality fibres. Alkali treatment
improves the fibre-matrix adhesion due to the removal of natural and
artificial impurities. Moreover, alkali treatment leads to fibrillation which
causes the breaking down of the composite fiber bundle into smaller fibers.
In other words, alkali treatment reduces fibre diameter and thereby
increases the aspect ratio. Therefore, the development of a rough surface
topography and enhancement in aspect ratio offer better fiber-matrix
interface adhesion and an increase in mechanical properties [Bessadok,
Roudesli, Marais, Follain, Lebrun.2009]. Alkali treatment increases surface
roughness resulting in better mechanical interlocking and the amount of
cellulose exposed on the fibre surface. This increases the number of
possible reaction sites and allows better fibre wetting. The possible

5
reaction of the fibre and NaOH is as shown below [Bessadok, Roudesli,
Marais, Follain, Lebrun.2009].
Fibre-OH + NaOH Fibre-O-Na+ + H2O------------ Equation 1
The chemical constituents of natural fibers can be classified into cellulose
and lignin. Lignin plays the role of binding the fibers of cellulose. Alkaline
treatment is used for the release of fibres just as it is one of the standard
procedures in the pulp and paper industries for lignin removal, lignin can
be dissolved in sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution and the cellulosic fibres
can be extracted with relative ease. NaOH causes dissolution of lignin by
breaking it into smaller segments whose sodium salts is soluble in the
medium. Natural fibre like banana plant fibers which is of huge economic
importance are used in the process of making basket in Ecuador. Cordage
and textiles are all made from fibers with pulp and paper which is a
product of fibres being marketed by the natural paper company in the
U.S.A. Retting can be achieved mechanically by hammering or chemically
by boiling & applying chemicals. The choice depends on the availability of
water and the cost of retting process. In “water retting” plants such as flax,
jute, hemp or kenaf etc are submerged in water, soaked for a period of
time to loosen the fibres from the other components of the stem. Retting
can also be done by placing the already cut or chopped stand of the plant
in fields in wet fall called “dew retting”. In either approach, bacterial action
attacks pectin and lignin, freeing the cellulose fibres. During retting, the
stems are monitored to avoid excessive degradation of the fibre material
which will affect the fiber strength. The fibre degrades when bacterial acts
on it. There is a direct correlation between retting time, cellulose

6
polymerization degree and fibre strength. There is also a need to allow for
complete retting because in under-retted samples the pectin content is too
high for good separation of bast fibers and shives, which will give
substantial problems in further processing (decortation, cleaning, and
combing, fibre separation). The number of days required for retting
depends on water temperature, locality, time of year, weather conditions,
depth and source of water, thickness of stalks and quantity of straw in
relation to volume of water. Once retting is completed, the stems are
removed and washed, and subjected to mechanical processing to remove
the soft tissues and then dry to obtain the fibres. Extraction processes of
natural fibers can be performed by different procedures that include
mechanical, chemical and biological methods. Each method presents
different advantages or drawbacks according to the amount of fibre
produced or the quality and properties of fibre bundles obtained. The
yearly banana plant waste (the trunk) will always be on the increase as a
result of banana growth plantation and the high demand for banana. There
is therefore the need to convert this waste to wealth by extracting the
fibres from banana trunk which finds application in the plastic, textile and
paper industries as increase in population will be a huge disposal problem.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

In today’s world, the demand for synthetic fabric material is increasing

spontaneously every day. Conventional fabric materials such as wool,
cotton and synthetic fabric materials are constantly being depleted.
However, the world dependency on these materials is still growing. For
these reason, the US and the world are pursuing alternative fabric source
7
to lessen the dependency on conventional fabrics. One alternative fabric
source is the plant fibre gotten from Banana, Plantain, Kenaf, Okro etc.
Most farmers or individuals harvest the banana fruit leaving behind the
stem which in subsequent time decays and cause environmental pollution.
The decayed stem, directly affects the growth of some plants and animals
in the ecosystem and also causes health hazards to man. There is a great
need to convert this waste to wealth. Additionally, due to increased
unemployment in the country, more job opportunity can be created by
educating the unlearned on how to extract fibre from banana stem.

1.3 JUSTIFICATION

Banana fibre is environmentally friendly [it does not cause pollution to the
environment] and can be used for various purposes such as in textile,
paper or handicrafts industry. It has high tensile strength and is 100%
biodegradable and non-toxic. Banana fibre has a higher stiffness than
synthetic fibre.

1.4 AIM

To extract fibre from banana stem, using natural, microbial and chemical
retting method.

1.5 OBJECTIVES

 Determining the properties of fibre and its tensile strength.

 Determining the differences in quality of fibre produced by microbial
and chemical retting.

8
 CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

The retting process, also known as degumming, involves the extraction of

fibre bundles from the harvested stem. To date, several retting methods
are applied; the most traditional, still widely used approaches, i.e., water
retting and dew retting (Tamburini et al. 2004) are based on the
microbiological retting. Other approaches involve mechanical, physical,
chemical, and enzymatic retting. The latter is very promising but not yet
practiced on an industrial scale. Figure below shows a rationalization of all
the retting treatments.

Figure 2.0: showing retting technique

9
Microbiological retting is a traditional and highly widespread retting
method. Two different types of microbiological retting are mainly adopted:
dew and water retting. Both of them are carried out by pectin enzymes
secreted by indigenous micro flora. (Tamburini et al. 2004).
In dew retting, also called field retting, harvested plants are thinly spread
out for 2–10 weeks in fields. During this period, microorganisms, mainly
filamentous fungi or aerobic bacteria present in soil and on plants, attack
noncellulosic cell types, removing pectins, and hemicelluloses from
parenchyma cells and the middle lamellae, without attacking cellulose
fibers. In this process, the colonizing fungi possess a high level of
pectinase activity and the capacity to penetrate the cuticular surface of the
stem: thus, fiber bundles come out separated into smaller bundles and
individual fibres. Several fungal species and bacteria have been isolated
from dew retted plants: Cladosporium sp., Penicillium sp., Aspergillus and
Rhodotorula sp. (Ribeiro et al. 2015; Fogarty et al. 1972; Ahmed and
Akhter 2001). During flax dew retting, other fungi were isolated, such as
Cladosporium herbarum, Epicoccum nigrum, Alternaria alternate, Fusarium
sp., Aureobasidium pullulans, Phoma sp., Mucor sp., Rhizomucor pusillus,
and Rhizopus oryzae (Akin et al. 1998; Henriksson et al. 1997; Sharma
1986; Xiao et al. 2008; Molina et al. 2001; Booth et al. 2004). For more
lignified fibres different enzymes are needed and often a mechanical step is
added to separate the fibres (Ribeiro et al. 2015).
Currently, dew retting is the most used process for the industrial
production of bast fibres, mainly flax and jute, because of its low cost
(Bacci et al. 2010). Unfortunately, the method is limited to geographic

10
regions, where the weather is suitable for fungi proliferation. Moreover,
often low and inconsistent fibre quality is produced as compared to other
methods, such as water retting. Risks of under retting and over retting are
also reported: they may cause difficulties in separation or weaken the fibre
(Jankauskiene et al. 2015). For example, cellulosic enzymes secreted by
the micro biota can damage the fibres if exposition lasts too long.
Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the retting process to ensure the
quality of the fibers. Occupation of lands for several weeks during retting
and the presence of a product contaminated with soil and fungi are other
drawbacks affecting this treatment.
In water retting, quite widespread 50 years ago, straws are soaked in
freshwater, today in large tanks, while in the past rivers or ponds were
used. During this treatment, that is carried out for a period of 7–14 days
on most bast fibre crop straws, water penetrates into the central stalk
portion, by breaking the outermost layer, and thus provoking an increased
absorption of moisture and the development of a pectinolytical bacterial
community. The duration of the treatment depends on the water type and
temperature and on any bacterial inoculums (Bismark et al. 2005). Water
retting generally produces fibers with a higher quality than those produced
by dew retting, but the waterretting process impacts the environment due
to the consumption and contaminationof large amounts of water (van Dam
and Bos 2004) and energy (Van der Werf and Turunen 2008). With
freshwater resources becoming increasingly scarce, an alternative or
improvement in water retting will have to be foremost in dealing with

11
water scarcity and pollution reduction. Enzyme retting, for example, has
been evaluated as a replacement for current retting methods.
Artificial water retting, employing warm water and bacterial inoculum, has
also been used to produce homogeneous and clean high-quality fibers in
3–5 days (Bismark et al. 2005; Sisti et al. 2016).

Fig2.1. Water retting of bast fibres (a) in river (Frontier Culture Museum of
Virginia 2012), (b) in tank (Retting the flax 2014)

A modification of water retting is the enzymatic treatment, also called

bioscouring, where degrading enzymes are directly added to tank water or
in a bioreactor (Ouajai and Shanks 2005). This technique has been
demonstrated to be a promising replacement for traditional retting
methods in terms of time-saving, ecology friendliness, and convenient
characteristics. The duration of enzymatic retting ranges from 8 to 24 h.

12
The high energy input and no reusability of enzymes are the main
concerns, which affect the cost-effectiveness of the process.
Enzyme retting via the pectinase is capable of producing consistent high
strength renewable fibres with variable fineness values for use in novel
resins (Foulk et al. 2011). Pectinex Ultra SP-L, produced by Novozymes, is
a highly active pectolytic enzyme obtained by a selected strain of
Aspergillus aculeatus that contains pectolytic and a range of
hemicellulolytic activities that can disintegrate plant cell walls (Bacci et al.
2010).
The mechanical extraction of fibres consists of various steps, as developed
since ancient times, mainly to recover hemp and flax fibres. Today, this
treatment is a completely automated process but steps have not changed.
A first separation is carried out by breaking, that is the stalks are passed
between fluted rollers to crush and break the woody core (shive) into short
pieces (hurds); the remaining fibres and hurds are subjected to scotching
(traditionally performed with boards and hammers), by which the fiber
bundles are gripped between rubber belts or chains and carried past
revolving drums with projecting bars that beat the fiber bundles,
separating the hurds, and broken short fibers (tow) from the remaining
long fibers. Finally, in the hackling (realized in the past by pulling the fibers
through a set of pins) thick fibers are divided by passing the long fibers
through a series of combs of increasing fineness to clean and align the long
fibers and separate the remaining tow and debris. Interestingly, the
modern mills maintain the integrity of the long fibers, by disentangling and
aligning the fibers, without destroying length. Another process currently

13
used to mechanically separate the fibers is called decortications and can be
performed by hammer milling or roller milling (Deyholos and Potter 2014).
In the first case, single or multiple concurrent drums rotating with
hammers projecting transversely from the drum surface beat the straw
until the separated hurd/shive and fiber particles can pass freely through
some meshes placed inside the machine. In the second case, long
cylindrical corrugated rollers are assembled in such orientations as to crack
the straw stalks while producing minimal damage to the fiber. The two
processes differ in the pro and con: if the hammer milling is characterized
by higher throughput capability, the roller milling gives much greater
length control, producing even very long fibers and will better preserve the
integrity of the fibers, without damages or entanglements.

14
Fig. 2.2: showing Mechanical processing of fibers (Deyholos and Potter
2014).
However, it is well known that mechanical retting tends to disrupt the fiber
cell wall structures, leading to dislocations, kink bands, or nodes, which
negatively affect the tensile mechanical properties and could even impair
the composite performances. Although on the one hand, it was established
that the defect extent of the mechanical retting is strongly related to the
previous retting treatments (Van de Weyenberg et al. 2003), on the other
hand, some researchers found that the fibers can be decorticated without

15
significant damage and can be produced with high quality, even when no
pretreatments are carried out.
With respect to water retting or dew retting, chemical processes are
sometimes preferable since they produce fibers characterized by high-
constant quality, regardless of weather conditions, usually in shorter times.
Numerous chemical treatments can be performed on the fibers depending
on their type, the ensuing retting process to be applied, and their final
applications. The most used chemical process is alkalization, a treatment
aimed at removing hemicelluloses: it is usually carried out with sodium
hydroxide, added as an aqueous solution at a variable concentration in the
range 1–25% by weight. Considering the coir fibers, the NaOH effect is
sometimes ambiguous and the reported results are controversial: indeed, if
the alkali treatment seems to increase the elongation at break and the
surface roughness (Silva et al. 2000) while improving the ultimate tensile
strength, the Retting Process as a Pretreatment of Natural Fibers. In order
to minimize the fiber deterioration, a combination of sodium hydroxide,
sodium carbonate, and sodium sulfide and short soaking treatments have
been successfully used on raw coconut fibers (Basu et al. 2015), achieving
a reduction in diameter, linear density, and flexural rigidity of fibers. Similar
considerations also apply to kenaf: the alkali retting produces stronger,
more flexible and less brittle fibers but the base concentration influences
the fiber morphology (Ramesh et al. 2015) because the high alkaline
medium increases the microvoid volume fractions, leading to the reduction
of the tensile strength of the fibers (Kawahara et al. 2005). Milder
conditions prevent the degradation of kenaf fibers: the use of a weak base

16
as sodium sulfite leads to cleaner and brighter fibers, smoother, and softer
materials, having the higher tensile strength (Umoru et al. 2014). The
same reagents have been tested on hemp fibers (Hurren et al. 2002) and it
turns out that the combination of NaOH and Na2SO3 produces fibers with
the whitest color and the finer diameter but not the best spin ability
(obtained after acidic treatment with HCl).

CHAPTER THREE
3.0 MATERIALS AND METHOD
The materials used was sourced from Umuna in orlu local Government in
Imo State Nigeria. The banana fiber was produced in Imo state university
and was characterized at Federal Institutes of Industrial Research Oshodi
Lagos. Furthermore, the methodology was divided into two parts which are
1. The extraction of banana fiber using Aspergillus nigger.

17
 2. Characterization of the extracted fiber by knowing its various
properties such as tensile strength, fineness, ash contents, color, etc.
3. Comparing the microbial retting of banana fiber with that of chemical
and natural retting.

3.0 Materials used for the extraction of fiber from banana stem.

3.0.1 Banana stem

The harvested banana stem were obtained from Orlu Local Government in
Imo State Nigeria was used for experimental purpose. The banana stem of
length 30cm were used for the retting process. The dead component of the
banana stem was stripped off in order to fasten the retting process.

3.0.2 Retting tank

This is a dish, pond or hollow material which was built with a depth of
about 1.8m and having an outlet where water can be passed out after
retting process is completed. the retting tank used was sourced from
Douglas Market in Imo State Nigeria.

3.0.3 Natural water

The water used was sterilized by heating to a temperature of above 100◦C

to ensure free infestation of microbes. Rain water is preferable because of
its low contamination of microbes.

3.0.4 Aspergillus nigger

18
Fungal strains were isolated from partially decomposed banana
pseduostem, garden soil samples nearby the root zone, and soil samples
collected from garbage site by inoculating in isolation medium. The
isolation media was fortified with 0.1% Amoxicillin for inhibition of bacterial
growth and incubated at 28°C for 3 days. Pure fungal culture was
established by single spore isolation methods and the isolated pure strains
were maintained at 4ºC in slants for further study.

3.0.5 Weighing balance

The weighing balance with a tolerance level of 0.01 was used to weigh the
banana stem. This help to calculate the ratio of banana to water to be 1ː20
by weight.

3.0.6 PH meter.

This was used to know the PH of the water before and after retting.

3.0.7 thermometer

The temperature of the water was calculated with the use of mercury in
glass thermometer to know and record the temperature at every stage of
the retting process. Temperature tends to increase as the fibre degrade to
form cellulose.

3.0.8 cutlass/hard wood

The cutlass was used to cut down the banana stem into smaller portion of
length 60cm, so that the banana can be totally immersed in the water,

19
While the hard wood was used to submerge or pressed down the banana
stem for proper retting to take place.

3.1 METHODOLOGY

The method used in retting of banana fibre is of various types which

includes chemical retting, natural retting, and enzymatic retting. Of these
types natural and enzymatic retting process produces the best fibre quality.
For the purpose of these project ezymatic and chemical retting process was
used. The following method was used in the ezymatic and chemical retting
of banana stem.

The banana stem was harvested from Orlu Local Government In Imo State
Nigeria and was cut into small portion of length 40cm.

Fungal strains was isolated from partially decomposed banana

pseduostem, garden soil samples nearby the root zone, and soil samples
was collected from garbage site by inoculating in isolation medium. The
isolation media was fortified with 0.1% Amoxicillin for inhibition of bacterial
growth and incubated at 28°C for 3 days. Pure fungal culture was
established by single spore isolation methods and the isolated pure strains
was maintained at 4ºC in slants for further study.

the retting tank was built with a depth of about 1.8m and having an outlet
where water can be passed out after retting process is completed. Two
retting tank were prepared, one for microbial retting while the other
chemical retting.

20
 The Aspergillus nigger was isolated from a pure culture and introduced
into the retting tank and stired with a clean rod for homogenous mixture of
the isolate. Banana plants were obtained and the trunk cut into equal parts
of four each weighing 2kg. Sodium hydroxide solutions of 0.1M, 0.05M,
0.01M and 0.00M were prepared and each poured into labeled containers.
The banana trunks were completely immersed into the four labeled
containers and covered. The trunks were left to ret for two weeks and the
pH monitored daily. Some physical observations were also made for both
the banana trunk and their various solutions. The moisture content of the
banana trunk was determined after the final weights of the various trunk
which were dried in the oven for 72hrs were measured and deducted from
the initial weights and percentage moisture content calculated using the
equation below:

MC = (M1-M2/M1) ×100…………………………………………………..1

Where MC is the moisture content, M1 is the initial weight of banana trunk

before drying and M2 is the final weight of banana trunk after drying.

Weight absorption (WA) was measured by immersing the banana trunk in

distilled water and left for 24hrs. The weight difference was measured and
the total water uptake was calculated using the equation below.

MA = (M3-M4/M4) ×100………………………………………………………2

Where WA is the weight absorption, M3 is the weight of banana trunk after

absorption of H2O and M4; the weight of banana trunk before submerging
into H2O. The initial temperature and PH of the retting process was

21
 checked daily and the banana fibre was leached after seven days of
introduction. Another retting tank was Prepared and the retting process
was repeated again.

To ascertain the effect of Aspergillus niger and sodium hydroxide treatment

on the quality of extracted banana fibre, the physical strength properties
was studied for both enzymatic treatment and chemical treatment by using
standard Universal Testing Machine (UTM) methods. A total of three sets of
fibres were evaluated for each of the test parameters.

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 RESULT

S/N SOLUTION(NaOH) Fiber yield (%) Solution color PH

1 0.1M 0.25 Dark brown 12.51
22
 2 0.05M 0.30 Beige 12.22
3 0.01M 0.35 Amber 11.60
4 0.00M 0.55 Off white 5.83
S/NO TYPE OF TREATMENT FIBER DIAMETER(μm) TENACITY IN cN/tex
1 Raw banana fibre without 42.5 30.6
treatment
2 Treated with commercial 30.5 20.8
soda(0.01M)
3 Mycogenic pectinace 24.0 22.6
(A. fumigates)
4 Mycogenic pectinace 24.8 24.5
(A. niger)

Table 4.1: showing the characterization of different concentration of

NaOH fibre extraction with their colors with 0.00M having the highest yield
of fiber, followed by 0.01M

Table 4.2: Showing the Effect of mycogenic pectinase enzymes on

physical properties (fiber diameter and tenacity) of banana fibres

23
Microbial retting chemical retting

24
 Natural retting

Fig 4.0: showing the extracted fibre through chemical, microbial and
natural retting.

25
 Table 4.3: PROPERTIES OF BANANA FIBRE

PARAMETERS BANANA FIBRE

Moisture content (w%) 9.01 – 10.8

Density (g/cm3) 0.86 – 1.12

Ash content (w%) 0.8 – 2.45

H2O absorbency (%) 0.40

Cellulose (w%) 35.02 – 63.03

Hemicellulose (w%) 12.65 – 18.00

Lignin (w%) 8.50 – 10.07

Lumen width (mm) 0.0075 – 0.015

Cell wall (mm) 0.00125 – 0.00625

Felting power (mm) 99.47

Coefficient of flexibility (mm) 82.86

Wall rigidity (mm) 0.219

table 4.3: showing the physiochemical properties of banana fibre

26
 Fibre samples Melt near Shrink Burns Continues to Appearance
(natural/chemical fibre from in burn outside of ash
retting flame flame flame

Banana No No Yes Slightly/slowly Light array

TABLE 4.4: BURNING TEST

Table 4.4: showing the burning test of banana fibre

27
 14

12

10
0.00M NaOH

0.01M NaOH
8
0.05M NaOH

0.1M NaOH
6

0
0.00M NaOH 0.01M NaOH 0.05M NaOH 0.1M NaOH

Figure 4.1: showing the PH level of different concentration of NaOH with

0.00M NaOH having a PH of 5.83 (acidic), while 0.1M, 0.05M, 0.01m,
having a PH of 12.51, 12.22 and 11.6 respectively (which are basic )

28
 0.6

0.5

0.00M NaOH

0.01M NaOH
0.4

0.05M NaOH

0.1M NaOH
0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0.00M 0.01M 0.05M 0.1M

Figure 4.2: Showing the percentage yield of banana fibre using different
concentration of NaOH with 0.00M NaOH producing the highest yield while
0.1M NaOH produces the least yield of banana fibre.

29
 35

30

25

20
tenacity

15

10

0
natural retting chemical retting microbial retting

Figure 4.3: showing the tensile strength of banana fibre extracted using
different extraction method with natural retting having the highest tensile
strength(30.6 cN/tex) followed by microbial retting(24.4 cN/tex) and
chemical retting(20.8 cN/tex).

CHAPTER FIVE
30
5.0 DISCUSSION

5.0.1 TENACITY

From the result above in table 4.2, petinase enymes accomplished positive
results for banana fibre extraction. In comparison to the control the
biologically synthesized pectinase treatment showed improvement in
physical properties of banana fibres. The enzyme synthesized by
Aspergillus niger shows better results with higher Tenacity (24.5 cN/tex)
which was followed by the A. fumigates (22.6 cN/tex) (Table4.2 and Fig
4.3). The results indicated that clean banana fibre production based on bio
processing by using fungal originated pectinase enzyme can be employed
in fibre extraction and degumming process instead of utilizing harsh
chemicals like surfactants, alkali chlorite, hypochlorite based bleaching etc.
Thus, the mycogenic enzymes able to enhance natural banana fibre yields
with better resource reproducibility which will help in commercial
exploitation of the banana fibre in near future in different sectors. The
result above is consistent with works carried out on extraction of fibre
using different method by Indrani Sarma and Deka who argued that
natural retting increases the tenacity of banana fibre (Imperial Journal of
Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-10, 2016).

5.0.2 COLOUR CHANGE

The solutions in which the trunks were immersed to ret showed colour
changes as shown in TABLE 4.1 above. The retted solutions of 0.1M NaOH,
0.05M NaOH, 0.01M NaOH and 0.0M NaOH changed from clear solutions to
dark brown, beige, amber and off white colour respectively. This period of

31
retting the banana trunk with the change in colour of the solutions resulted
in fouling of the retting solutions and hence discolours the fibers. It was
also observed that the retting started from the edge of the trunk since its
internal components i.e. the xylem and epidermis are exposed directly to
the various solutions unlike the bark covering of the banana trunk. This
result is in agreement with khan et al who proposed that there tends to be
colour change with varying concentration during fibre extraction (Khan,
Sarkar, Imam, Malinen. 2013).

5.0.3 pH VALUE:

From table 4.1 and fig 4.1, pH study showed that only the 0.00M NaOH
solution was acidic with a pH of 5.83 indicating that the banana is acidic.
Whereas the alkalinity of the other three solutions could be as a result of
the various concentration of the sodium hydroxide i.e. 0.1M, 0.05M and
0.01M added to the solutions showing pH of 12.51, 12.22 and 11.60
respectively.

5.0.4 YIELD

From figure 4.2 and table 4.1, the 0.0M NaOH retting solution has better
advantages over the other solutions because of the yield it produces at the
end of the process. The retted solutions of 0.1M NaOH showed 0.25% yield
while 0.30% fiber yield was obtained from 0.05M NaOH retted solution,
and 0.35% yield was obtained for 0.01M NaOH retted solution. Also a yield
of 0.55% was obtained for 0.0M NaOH retting solution. This is consistent
with works carried out on extraction of fibre using different method by
Indrani Sarma and Deka who argued that natural retting increases the

32
yield of banana fibre (Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Vol-2, Issue-10, 2016).

5.1 CONCLUSION

Banana fibers have been successfully extracted from banana harvest waste
using various concentrations of sodium hydroxide as retting media. It is
observed that the most effective means of fibre extraction is natural
method followed by microbial method. Chemically retted fibre has a lower
tenacity due to the effects of chemical on the fibre. The more the
concentration of the caustic soda, the weaker the tenacity but faster the
extraction. The color change in fibre resulted from the differences in
concentration of NaOH. Increasing the concentration of the fibre, reduces
the yield of the fibre. This explains why natural retting produces the
highest yield of fibre.

5.2 RECOMMENDATION

The yearly banana plant waste (the trunk) will always be on the increase
as a result of banana growth plantation and the high demand for banana.
There is therefore the need to convert this waste to wealth by extracting
the fibers from banana trunk which finds application in the plastic, textile
and paper industries as increase in population will be a huge disposal
problem. One of the means I strongly recommend is a process called
retting.

Also due to fast growing of banana plant in Africa, there tends to be high
rate of harvest of its fruit. Most farmers, after harvesting the banana fruit,

33
abandoned the stem to decay which affects the soil, environment and man.
This problem arises due to lack of knowledge on how to convert the stem
to a useful product. I strongly recommend that farmers should be trained
on how to process fibre from banana stem through natural retting process,
because natural retting can be achieved at a reduced cost.

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