While the entire world is going ecological, its time fruitsfind creative applications, apart from eating!
Banana plant is endowed with virtuous fibres which hasversatile applications. Though, the plant is more popular for its fruit, it hasbeen a source of high quality fibre which is used to manufacture textiles. Bananashoots produce fibres with varying softness used for making different products.This plant is a good source of quality textiles.
Making of the Fibre:
The stem of the banana plant is cut and processed. The skinis then peeled off, and fibres are extracted. The extracted fibre is cooked ina big pot of boiling lye, an alkali solution. After cooking for several hours,it is then washed to remove the alkali. Using a tool, the fibre is removed fromthe skin. Soft fibres are used for weft, while the hard fibres are used for thewarp. The fibres are immersed in water and squeezed lightly. They are thenseparated by running nails along the fibres from the root moving upwards.Individual fibres are joined together to make one continuous thread. This is atedious and time consuming job requiring much patience.
The extracted fibres are made wet to avoid breaking, and arespun in a spinning wheel. The thread is now dyed steamed and dyed. After dyeing,the thread is laid out according to the design and passed through a temporaryreed. The ward is wounded onto the beam and passed through the reed and heddle.The thread is moistened frequently to avoid breaking while weaving. Once thecloth is woven, it is washed, and boiled in an alkali solution. Later it iswashed, dried, and neutralized in rice vinegar solution. Finally, the cloth iswashed again, dried and ironed.
Applications of the Fibre:
Papers made from banana fibres have good market in 25 internationalcountries including Europe. These papers are chemical free, and posses' ecofriendly qualities, with longevity of 700 years. Apart from this table mats,bags, runners, coasters, and floor mats are also made from banana fibres. In Japan, these fibres are used for making traditional dresses like kimono. Its light weightand skin friendly virtues have made it a preferential choice for summer wear. Inhome textile segment, this fibre finds its way in cushion covers, curtains, andtable cloths.
&sec=article&uinfo=<%=server.URLEncode(2223)%>" target="_blank">Fibre2Fashionhad an opportunity to interact with Dr. C K Narayana, PrincipalScientist at NRCB. He elaborated about the virtues of banana fibre,and their potential applications. He says, "The fibre is essentially madefrom banana plant stem which is considered as a waste material afterharvesting. Although, there are a few available machines to extract bananafibre, there is a lack of adequate methodology to make yarn from the fibre."
International Market for Banana fibre products:
Banana is mainly cultivated in more than 107 countries all over the world. What are the prospects for this fibre gaining global spotlight? Dr. Rajan P Nachane, Principle Scientist and Head, Quality Evaluation & Improvement Division of Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology, says, "Being completely biodegradable and naturally occurring, the banana fibre products are expected to be in great demand in the international markets as they pose no toxic effects to man and the environment. A number of value added textile products can be made which in turn would enhance the profitability of banana farming. Banana fibres can be made available at cheap rate for preparation of fancy articles as well as textiles".
"In the past spinning of Banana fibres has been tried on jute spinning machinery for making ropes and sacks. However, spinning performance of Banana fibres for the preparation of yarns and fabrics has not been tried much in India." While talking about the Indian market for banana fibres, he said, "An estimated yield of one million tons of dry banana fibres annually, a very small quantity is presently being utilized for the preparation of handicraft items".
Application potential of banana fibre is not having optimum utilization. Buyers for these fibres are also inconsistent. Extraction of fibres requires a more systematic way. Government patronage and useful applications of this fibre would regularize the demand and enable a sturdy market for these fibre products.
With the increasing demand for banana in the global arena, much focus is required on increasing its production generating more of the pseudo stem biomass waste. Being a rich source of natural fibres, the pseudo stem can be profitably utilized for numerous applications and preparation of various products.
References:
- http://www.vibrantnature.co.in
- http://www.teonline.com
- http://www.craftandartisans.com/
Comments