Overview of banana cellulosic fibers: agro-biomass potential, fiber extraction, properties, and sustainable applications

The world's reliance on synthetics has amounted to oil reserves depletion and marine plastics littering. Accordingly, millions of tons of plastic waste end up in the ocean yearly from both human land and marine activities. So, reversing the shift back to sustainable, biodegradable, and natural materials is no longer a luxury option. The abundant agro-wastes are a promising substitute material. Banana plant residual parts are good cellulosic fiber sources for many applications, namely textiles, pulp and paper, biocomposites, construction, and food packaging industries. Given a few in-depth available review articles and the continuous studies reported about banana fibers, this study aims to scrutinize the banana fiber potentiality, commonly used fiber extraction techniques, key fiber properties (physical, chemical, morphological, mechanical), its current applications, and future perspective. Another aspect is to portray the optimistic ripple effect in terms of a reduced burden on traditional fiber crops and enriching the rural communities.