Agro-Residual Fibers as Potential Reinforcement Elements for Biocomposites

Abstract

Over the last two decades, lignocellulosic fibers have started to be considered as alternatives to conventional manmade fibers, in the academic as well as commercial arena, for a number of areas including transportation, construction, and packaging applications. Some species of plants such as hemp, flax, kenaf, jute, and sisal, which have been utilized as fiber sources since historical times, once again have become the focus of research attention. Nevertheless, agricultural plants have solely been utilized as a food source. Most recently, the possibility of making use of agricultural byproducts has gained interest. Some of these agricultural byproducts are rice and wheat straws; corn husks; corn, okra, cotton, and reed stalk fibers; and banana bunch fibers. Utilization of these byproducts would benefit rural development by providing additional value to the agricultural activities; the environment by saving the field left overs from burning, which is unfortunately a common practice; and the growing world population by preserving the land for the production of edible plant species. This review investigates agro-based fibers as potential reinforcement elements in biocomposites. Methods of fiber extraction from agricultural residues are explained, characteristics of fibers with resources of different agricultural byproducts are compared, fiber modification techniques are presented and research efforts devoted to utilize these agro-based fibers are listed. © 2015 Scrivener Publishing LLC.