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Fibres
Different fibre crops
Botanically a classification can be made for fibres on the part of the plant from which they can be obtained. The major crops of technical or economic importance are:
|
Bast fibres
flax, hemp, kenaf, jute, nettle, ramie |
 |
Leaf fibres
sisal, abaca, banana, henequen |
 |
Grass fibres esparto, bamboo, reed |
 |
 |
Seed hairs cotton, kapok, milk weed |  |
Palm fibres coconut husk coir
|
 |
Woody fibres |
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Morphological properties of fibres
|
Fibre |
Length (mm) |
Diameter (mm) |
|
|
Technical fibre |
Elementary fibre |
||
|
Flax |
300-900 |
13-60 |
12-30 |
|
Ramie |
>1500 |
40-250 |
16-125 |
|
Abacca |
1000-2000 |
3-12 |
16-32 |
|
Sisal |
600-1000 |
0.8-8 |
100-400 |
|
Cocos |
15-35 |
0.3-1.0 |
12-24 |
|
Kenaf |
900-1800 |
1.5-11 |
14-33 |
|
Jute |
150-360 |
0.8-6 |
5-25 |
|
Cotton |
15-56 |
12-25 |
|
|
Hemp |
1000-3000 |
5-55 |
16-50 |
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Chemical composition of fibres
|
Fibre |
Flax |
Ramie |
Abacca |
Sisal |
Cocos |
Kenaf |
Jute |
Cotton |
Hemp |
| Component | |||||||||
| Ethanol/toluene extraction |
3.1 |
1.6 |
1.7 |
2.8 |
0.8 |
1.3 |
0.5 |
0.6 |
1.5 |
| Ethanol extraction |
0.3 |
1.3 |
0.4 |
0.0 |
0.2 |
0.0 |
0.3 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
| Hot water extraction |
5.4 |
7.7 |
3.4 |
4.9 |
2.9 |
6.8 |
1.3 |
1.8 |
5.1 |
| Neutral sugars | |||||||||
| Arabinose |
0.7
|
0.3
|
0.6
|
1.2
|
1.0
|
0.4
|
0.4
|
0.3
|
0.8
|
| Xylose |
1.0
|
0.3
|
10.9
|
16.2
|
14.4
|
13.3
|
9.2
|
0.2
|
1.2
|
| Mannose |
4.1
|
1.2
|
0.3
|
0.1
|
0.1
|
0.8
|
0.7
|
0.1
|
4.3
|
| Galactose |
3.7
|
1.9
|
0.2
|
0.2
|
0.4
|
0.5
|
0.4
|
0.2
|
2.4
|
| Glucose |
72.4
|
76.6
|
61.4
|
44.8
|
34.6
|
56.2
|
59.4
|
91.2
|
70.1
|
| Rhamnose |
0.3
|
0.7
|
0.1
|
0.0
|
0.2
|
0.3
|
0.1
|
0.0
|
0.3
|
| Lignin | |||||||||
| AIL |
2.8
|
0.4
|
10.0
|
21.7
|
34.6
|
8.8
|
14.3
|
0.3
|
3.6
|
| ASL |
0.1
|
0.1
|
0.3
|
0.2
|
0.3
|
0.6
|
0.3
|
0.1
|
0.2
|
| Uronic acids |
3.2
|
3.0
|
4.3
|
1.9
|
5.2
|
5.1
|
2.5
|
2.2
|
2.8
|
| Total (%w/w) |
97.1
|
95.1
|
93.6
|
94.0
|
94.7
|
94.1
|
89.4
|
97.4
|
92.6
|
| Protein |
2.1
|
4.3
|
1.0
|
1.2
|
1.6
|
2.6
|
1.6
|
2.0
|
4.5
|
| Ash |
1.8
|
4.2
|
1.0
|
0.8
|
1.3
|
1.5
|
0.7
|
1.6
|
4.1
|
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