Extraction of natural cellulosic fiber from Myriostachia wightiana stems using chemical retting and its characterization for bio-composite applications

Due to environmental concerns and the high expense of conventional fibres, there is an immediate need to investigate alternative eco-friendly fibres. Through chemical retting, eco-friendly MW fibre was extracted for the first time and characterized to evaluate its potential replacement against hazardous synthetic fibre. The effect of chemical concentration and retting duration on the fibre extraction has been thoroughly examined. MW fibre's utilization as a biocomposite reinforcement was investigated using physicochemical, XRD, FTIR, SEM, and thermal analysis. The density, tensile strength, Young's modulus, strain at failure, and micro-fibril angle of the MW fibres extracted using 90 h retting with 0.961 M NaOH concentration with an average diameter of 186.7 mu m were 1370-1460 kg/m3, 143.46 MPa, 5.38 GPa, 7%, and 24.408 degrees, respectively. The existence of cellulose (O=H), hemicellulose (C=O), lignin (C=C), and wax (C=C) in the fibre was detected by FTIR analysis. According to the XRD data, the CI and CS are 54% and 3.00 nm. Thermal studies show that the fibre extracted using 90 h of alkaline retting has the highest activation energy of 130 kJ/mol and thermal stability up to 350 degrees C among other retting. The fibre's high cellulose content (76 wt%) and roughness (17.43 mu m) contributed to its specific strength and adherence to the polymer matrix. The importance of the current work indicates that this fibre has important applications in pulping, packaging, composites, and the production of cellulose nanocomposites.