STUDIES ON EXTRACTION PROCESS AND PROPERTIES OF SISAL (AGAVE SISALANA) FIBRE

R.K. NAIK¹*, R.C. DASH², A.K. GOEL^3
1ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, Barrackpore, Kolkata, 700121, West Bengal, India
²College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Odisha University of Agriculture & Technology, Bhubaneswar, 751003, Odisha, India
³College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Odisha University of Agriculture & Technology, Bhubaneswar, 751003, Odisha, India
* Corresponding Author : ranjanagrieng@gmail.com

Received : 01-09-2020     Accepted : 13-09-2020     Published : 15-09-2020
Volume : 12     Issue : 17       Pages : 10167 - 10170
Int J Agr Sci 12.17 (2020):10167-10170

Keywords : Extraction, Fibre, Leaf, Lignin, Sisal
Academic Editor : Dr N Umashankar Kumar, Dr Prafulla Kumar Bhanja
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, Barrackpore, Kolkata, 700121, West Bengal, India. Authors are also thankful to College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Odisha University of Agriculture & Technology, Bhubaneswar, 751003, Odisha, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Sisal fibre is obtained from its mature leaves either by manual or mechanical extraction process. In mechanical fibre extraction process of sisal, the two-directional leaf feeding action restricts the production capacity of machine and difficult to extract fibre from leaves having marginal prickles. In this study the comparative fibre recovery in different leaf feeding actions were evaluated. It was found that one-directional leaf feeding process keeping 10 cm butt-end as handle achieved 30 % more fibre recovery. The one-directional leaf feeding action using a leaf holding device was found feasible and increases the production capacity of the machine by 40-50%. The provision of a ‘handle’ (un-decorticated butt-end) on the processed leaf helps in washing, drying and cleaning of fibre. The study on physical and mechanical properties of sisal (Agave sisalana) fibre revels that fibre content of leaves was varied from 3.0-4.5 % of green leaf biomass by weight. The average fibre length and diameter was found to be 140 cm and 0.14 mm, respectively. The effect of alkali treatment on fibre shows significant change in colour and lustre of fibre. The alkali treated sisal fibres exhibits 56 % more strength than raw sisal fibres.

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