Badana

Development of an Automated Process to Extract Fibres from the Waste of Banana Food Production for Exploitation as a Sustainable Reinforcement in Injection- and Rotomoulded Products

The Badana project aims to develop a process to extract high-quality natural fi bre from banana plant waste in order to exploit the fibres’ properties in polymer composites to be used in rotational- and injection-moulded products. This will be for the benefi t of SMEs involved in the production of bananas and SMEs that supply OEMs and end-users with sustainable moulded composite products in the automotive, packaging and consumer goods industries.

This research will provide the SMEs with new market opportunities through satisfying the rapidly-growing demand of product manufacturers for ecoaesthetic (green) materials.

Key objectives of the project include:

• To develop efficient and automated equipment for banana-fibre extraction.
• To develop efficient & automated equipment for banana-fibre extraction.
• To develop new industrial applications for the waste from banana plants (false stem or leaves), thereby adding value for the benefit of SMEs in the agricultural sector.
• To increase the competitiveness of SMEs with new cost-effective, eco-efficient materials.

Organisational Information

• Budget: €1M
• Funding: €770k
• Start Date: July 2009
• Finish Date: June 2011
• Duration (in months): 24
• Lead Partner (Co-ordinator): Smithers Rapra, UK

Participants:

Results – What happened next?

One of the key project achievements is the development of the first prototype of the multi-phase decorticating machine (MPDM) which automates the process of extracting fibre from the leaves of the banana plant, providing a reliable and efficient source for the manufacture of new plastic composite materials. Work has been undertaken to characterise and analyse the fibres of a variety of banana species grown in the Canary Islands, aiding the development of formulations for modifying the fibre surface in order to ensure good adhesion between the fibres and the polymer they are compounded with.

Successful candidate formulations have been selected and lab scale trials, which involved injection moulding and rotational moulding of the newly developed plastic composites, have been undertaken. The results have shown good behaviour of the fi bre compared to other natural fibres in terms of mechanical properties and coupling to plastic matrix (a general problem to solve in natural plastic composites) as well as resistance to degradation under processing conditions.

Future work on the Badana project will focus on completing the lab scale trials of the MPDM with consideration being given to optimisation of the machine design. Once optimised, work will be undertaken to manufacture the plastic composites on an industrial scale to enable industrial trials to take place. Examples of parts which are planned to be manufactured in industrial trials are components for car doors, washing machines and kayaks.

Project website: http://www.badana.eu