Banana plastic

[manojsinghchandel]

Banana plastic

Waste fibres can be used for strengthening


RESEARCHERS at Queen’s University Belfast are developing a technique to use waste from growing bananas in moulded plastic.



Up to 25,000 t/y of waste from banana trees, called badana, is thrown away each year in the Canary Islands alone. The Badana study, which is being funded by a €1m ($1.45m) grant from the European Union, aims initially to develop techniques to produce high-quality fibres and machinery to better extract the fibre. The badana fibre could also be used as a replacement for other natural fibres like hemp and sisal.



The badana fibres will initially be used for products made by rotational moulding, such as fuel tanks for cars, wheelie bins, traffic cones and boats. The fibres will be extracted and processed and added to a plastic mix, which will then be sandwiched between two layers of pure plastic such as polyethylene. The fibres will increase the stiffness and resilience of the plastic. It will also decrease the quantity of plastic required for each product, making them more sustainable.



Mark Kearns, IChemE Fellow and rotational moulding manager at the Polymer Processing Research Centre at Queen’s is one of the lead researchers. He tells tce: “There are the obvious environmental benefits but there are also potential benefits for the Canary Islands farming cooperative. It would give them an extra source of income from selling what was waste. Also, there’s no need to displace food production because it’s a by-product. It’s helping them to secure their future.”



Kearns says as well as rotational moulding, the technology could be used for injection moulding and thermoforming. Gruppo Antolin Ingenieria, which produces moulded parts for car interiors, is one of the project’s partners and is already interested. The other partners include the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Smithers Rapra, a plastics and rubber consultancy, Bosch und Siemens Hausgerate, and Coplaca, the banana growers’ cooperative.

Regds

Manoj Singh

[gunda]

the waste of banana plants can be converted into utiloity products for agriculutre. it need not be thrown out leading to pollution problem.
will any oine be interested.