Agricultural fibres

AgroResin is a biodegradable packaging material from by-products of the palm oil industry. It can also be made from agricultural fibres, such as wheat straw. It is compatible with existing moulded pulp manufacturing processes. AgroResin has received Din-Certco certification for products made of compostable materials (DIN EN 13432 2000-12). 

In recent years, considerable research has been done on the isolation of nanofibres from plants to use them as fillers in biocomposites [86-90]. Agricultural crop residues are one of the most valuable sources of natural cellulose nanofihres. It should be noted that in agricultural fibres, the cellulose microfibrils are less tightly wound in the primary ceU wall than in the secondary wall in wood, thus fibrillation... 

Sanadi AR, Caulfield DF, Jacobsaon RE, Rowell RM (1995) Renewable agricultural fibres as reinforcing fillers in plastics mechanical properties of kenaf fibre-polypropylene composites. Ind Eng Chem Res 34 1889-18%... 

Technically speaking, almost any agricultural fibre can be used to manufacture composite panels. However, it becomes more difficult to use certain kinds of fibres when restrictions in quality and economy are imposed. The literature shows that several kinds of fibres have existed in sufficient quantity, in the right place, at the right price and at the right time to merit at least occasional commercial use. 

A three-layer board having a corncob core and wood veneer face was produced for a short time in Czechoslovakia after World War II [9]. Corn stalks, like many agricultural fibre sources, consist of a pithy core with an outer layer of long fibres. Corn stalks and cobs are either hammer milled into particles or reduced to fibres in a pressurised refiner. 

Cyanide Disinfectants SPA Sodium cyanide Copper cyanide Heat treatment of metal Coal distillation Electroplating Photographic Synthetic fibre Agriculture and horticulture Abattoirs Eood processing... 

Resistant starch will serve as primary source of substrate for colonic microflora and may have important physiological benefits. On this basis resistant starch can be classified as a dietary fibre. The Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (AOAC) method of determining dietary fibre will measure some resistant starch as dietary fibre. 

One of the most debated environmental issues of the past fifteen to twenty years has been the exploitation of the forests for wood for paper making. Approximately 30% of the earth s land surface is forested, and around half of this is harvested commercially for industrial purposes (Chapter 1). Over 80% of this wood for industrial use comes from the forests of North America, Europe and what was formerly the Soviet Union. Wood has been the primary fibre source for pulp and paper production world-wide for many years, and it is necessary to take a global view of its consumption. Wood consumption world-wide has more than doubled since 1950 from 1.5 billion to 3.5 billion m3 (United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation). Approximately half of this is used for fuelwood and half for industrial use. The principal driving force for this increase in consumption has been the increase in world population which shows a close correlation with wood consumption (Figure 10.1). 

Hall, M.B., Lewis, B.A., Van Soest, P.J. and Chase, L.E. (1997) A simple method for estimation of neutral detergent-soluble fibre. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 74, 441 49. 

Reeves, J.B. Ill and McCarty, G.W. (2001) Quantitative analysis of agricultural soils using near infrared reflectance spectroscopy and a fibre-optic probe. Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy 9, 25-34. 

Extensive use has been made of NIRA in agriculture where it has been used to determine the protein, fibre, water and triglyceride contents of feedstuffs and the quality of crops. By training the computer to recognise the near-infrared (NIR) spectra of the major components making up a crop, the individual components can be monitored in the crop itself. The components that can be measured by NIRA often cannot be measured by the usual spectroscopic methods. The fundamental work done in the quality control of agricultural products can be readily extended to the quality control of pharmaceutical formulations. 

Government Industrial Research Institute, 11 Industrial Products Research Institute, 205,274,382 Institute of Chemical Fibres, 245 Kyoto University, 11,488 Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, 334 Neste Oy Research Centre, 219 Polymeric Materials and Interfaces... 

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