Corn stalk fibers

Ganjyal, G. M., Reddy, N., Yang, Y. Q., and Hanna, M. A. J. (2004). Biodegradable packaging foams of starch acetate blended with corn stalk fibers. 

Panthapulakkal and Sain [10] reported better interfacial bonding between wheat straw fibers to HOPE compared to corncob and corn stalk fibers. They attributed this to more-lignin type and carbon rich hydrophobic surface of wheat straws compared to the other agro-based fillers. They observed higher percentage of silica on the wheat straw fiber surface than the other fibers. 

Xylan occurs in practically all land plants and is said to be present in some marine algae.6 In both wide botanical distribution and abundance in nature it closely follows cellulose and starch. It is most abundant in annual crops, particularly in agricultural residues such as corn cobs, corn stalks, grain hulls and stems. Here it occurs in amounts ranging from 15 to 30%. Hard woods contain 20 to 25% xylan while soft woods contain 7 to 12 %. Spring wood has more pentosan than summer wood. 7 Low strength vegetable fibers of commerce such as jute, sisal, Manila... 

Suitable reinforcing fibers are kenaf, jute, hemp, sisal, corn stalk, grass fibers, and wood fibers. 

Chapters 2-10 discuss in detail the different properties of natural lignocellulosic fibers, their processing and fabrication of polymer composites. Chapter 11 summarizes the structure, chemistry and properties of different agro-residual fibers such as wheat straw corn stalk, cob and husks okra stem banana stem, leaf, bxmch reed stalk nettle pineapple leaf sugarcane oil palm bunch and coconut husk along with their processing. 

There are several different classifications in terms of plant fibers. While the classification of Nishino [59] includes seven groups as bast (soft) fibers (flax, hemp, jute), leaf (hard) fibers (sisal, abaca, pineapple, etc.), stem fibers (bamboo, banana stalk, corn stalk), fruit fibers (coconut), seed fibers (cotton, baobab, kapok), straw fibers (rice, wheat, corn), and others (seaweeds, palm), that of Faruk et al. [3] has six groups bast fibers (jute, flax, hemp), leaf fibers (abaca, sisal and pineapple), seed fibers (coir, cotton and kapok), core fibers (kenaf, hemp and jute), grass and reed fibers (wheat, corn and rice) and all other types (wood and roots). 

Ashori and Nourbakhsh [ 16] obtained tensile, flexural and impact property increases as high as 50% of corn stalk, sunflower stalk and bagasse fiber-reinforced polypropylene composite due to incorporation of maleic anhydride polypropylene compatibilizer. 

Com as com flakes, sweet com, com as various types of flour and meal, popcorn, other snacks foods such as chips, and com juice as sweeteners, com used in fermentation for beer and in the production of alcohol, and corncobs and stalks used as carriers for various chemicals and medications, as fiber sources, and for the improvement of soil condition by plowing under stalks, are some of the uses for this versatile crop. See Ref. 75 for more information on corn. 

Some of these agricultural byproducts which have been the subject of research efforts as fiber sources are corn husks rice and wheat straws corn, okra, cotton and reed stalks empty banana bunches pineapple and oil palm leaves and sugarcanes [5,7,10,13,16]. 

Retting time depends on the plant species. While okra bast fibers can be obtained after a duration of 15 - 30 days [14,22] it takes several months to extract fibers from corn husk by water retting [13]. The author has not been able to extract fibers from reed leaves and stalks even after two years of immersion in water tanks. 

Particleboards Wood particles, shives of flax flakes, saw dust, bagasse, hemp, kenaf, jute, cereal straw, coconut coir, corn and cotton stalks, rice husks, vetiver roots, and other fiber sources Urea, melamine, phenol formaldehyde resin, isocyanate, resorcinol, vinyl polyacetate resins and natural polymers, tannins, protein, casein, soybeans, modified starch, lignin activated by enzymatic system polylactic and polyhydroxyhutyric acid... 

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