TY - JOUR
T1 - Chemical modification of banana trunk fibers for the production of green composites
AU - Sathasivam, Kathiresan V.
AU - Haris, Mas Rosemal Hakim Mas
AU - Fuloria, Shivkanya
AU - Fuloria, Neeraj Kumar
AU - Malviya, Rishabha
AU - Subramaniyan, Vetriselvan
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors express their sincere appreciation to AIMST University and Universiti Sains Malaysia for providing the space and utilities for the research purpose.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/6/2
Y1 - 2021/6/2
N2 - Natural fibers have proven to be excellent reinforcing agents in composite materials. However, a critical disadvantage of natural fibers is their hydrophilic nature. In this study, banana trunk fibers were mechanically damaged using a high-speed blender, and the resulting fibers (MDBTF) were treated with (i) stearic acid (SAMDBTF) and (ii) calcium carbonate coated with 5% (wt/wt) stearic acid (SACCMDBTF). The moisture sorption, oil sorption and thermal properties of the fibers were determined. The morphology, roughness and the functional groups present were also investigated. Study data of the present study indicate that SACCMDBTF exhibited a faster oil sorption capacity than SAMDBTF. Fast uptake of the oil occurred during the first 5 min, whereby the quantity of oil sorbed in SAMDBTF and SACCMDBTF was 5.5 and 15.0 g oil g−1 fiber, respectively. The results of a used engine oil uptake study revealed that SAMDBTF and SACCMDBTF sorbed 9.5 and 18.3 g/g-1 fiber, respectively, at equilibrium. The obtained results suggest that the mechanically damaged process improved the thermal stability of the fibers. This work reveals that the inclusion of stearic-acid-coated calcium carbonate into the interstices of MDBTF yields is environmentally safe for green hydrophobic composites. SACCMDBTF are used as efficient adsorbents for the removal of spilled oil on aqueous media.
AB - Natural fibers have proven to be excellent reinforcing agents in composite materials. However, a critical disadvantage of natural fibers is their hydrophilic nature. In this study, banana trunk fibers were mechanically damaged using a high-speed blender, and the resulting fibers (MDBTF) were treated with (i) stearic acid (SAMDBTF) and (ii) calcium carbonate coated with 5% (wt/wt) stearic acid (SACCMDBTF). The moisture sorption, oil sorption and thermal properties of the fibers were determined. The morphology, roughness and the functional groups present were also investigated. Study data of the present study indicate that SACCMDBTF exhibited a faster oil sorption capacity than SAMDBTF. Fast uptake of the oil occurred during the first 5 min, whereby the quantity of oil sorbed in SAMDBTF and SACCMDBTF was 5.5 and 15.0 g oil g−1 fiber, respectively. The results of a used engine oil uptake study revealed that SAMDBTF and SACCMDBTF sorbed 9.5 and 18.3 g/g-1 fiber, respectively, at equilibrium. The obtained results suggest that the mechanically damaged process improved the thermal stability of the fibers. This work reveals that the inclusion of stearic-acid-coated calcium carbonate into the interstices of MDBTF yields is environmentally safe for green hydrophobic composites. SACCMDBTF are used as efficient adsorbents for the removal of spilled oil on aqueous media.
KW - Adsorbents
KW - Adsorption
KW - Banana trunk fibers
KW - Green chemistry
KW - Hydrophobic composites
KW - Spilled oil
KW - Surface analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108402338&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/polym13121943
DO - 10.3390/polym13121943
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85108402338
SN - 2073-4360
VL - 13
JO - Polymers
JF - Polymers
IS - 12
M1 - 1943
ER -