A review of emerging bio-based constituents for natural fiber polymer composites

Compared to conventional petroleum-based materials, composite materials created from renewable agricultural and biomass resources are used more frequently because they significantly offset fossil fuel use and decrease emissions of greenhouse gases. Yet, certain obstacles must be solved when incorporating natural fiber with polymers to create materials with characteristics equal to those of traditional composite materials. High water absorption and low thermal properties are some of these difficulties. The use of waste, residues, and process by-products as additives or reinforcements in natural fiber-polymer composites (NFPCs) is a new trend that has the potential to significantly improve NFPCs' properties in a resilient and sustainable manner, as opposed to the rather expensive chemical and physical modification techniques that have been traditionally used to address the problems mentioned above. This review reports the potential of waste materials, leftovers, and other industrial by-products as NFPC components and explores how they affect NFPCs. The application of NFPCs with prospects in the various industry sectors is also discussed in this article. Lastly, this review also addresses the limitations of NFPCs and how to overcome the obstacles with bio-based substitutes.