Various methods of isolating cellulosic fibers from banana pseudo-stems including mechanical extraction, steam release, steam release combined with chemical treatment, and an enzymatic method with pectinase from Staphylococcus sciuri, were performed. The fibers were produced by all the methods and characterized. In this work, we report on the breaking tenacity, breaking strength, fiber length, diameter, toughness, and linear density of enzyme-retted fiber. Banana cellulose fiber isolated by the enzymatic retting procedure was comparable in physical properties to cotton fiber and was also shown by FTIR analysis to contain cellulose, lignin, and hemicellulose. The banana cellulose fibers had the following characteristics: linear density of 161.81 denier, breaking tenacity of 38.50 g/tex, elongation of 4.03%, fiber diameter of 127.02 mm, and fiber length of 191.68 mm.
Keywords: banana pseudo stem; fiber; pectinase; morphological properties; chemical characteristic
*Corresponding author: E-mail: neeraj.wadhwa@jiit.ac.in
