Formulation of Composite Materials Using the Biomass from a Newly Developed Pineapple Leaf Fiber Extraction Process

Abstract

The harvesting of pineapples results in a large amount of discarded pineapple leaves. However, pineapple leaf fibers (PALF) have low density, high tensile strength, and good thermal insulation properties. In this study, pineapple leaves were first pretreated, and then fibers were extracted using a newly developed hydraulic fiber extraction and degumming process machine. The goal was to use a more environmentally friendly method for simultaneous fiber extraction and degumming. The resulting biomass can be further combined with bioplastics to produce biodegradable composite materials for applications. In this study, the novel hydraulic fiber extraction and degumming process machine was tested for improving and the bioplastic samples were formulated by adjusting the ratios of different bioplastics with the pineapple leaf residue biomass powders. The tensile strength and the elongation at break of the pineapple leaf residue composites were optimized for the composition using the response surface methodology (RSM). The optimal tensile strength of 15.48 MPa and elongation at break of 12.71% were achieved with a composition of 60% polylactide (PLA), 15% polybutylene succinate (PBS), 10% polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT), and 15% pineapple leaf residue biomass in the composites.