Modification, Characterization And Utilization Of Banana Trunk Fibers – Musa acuminate x balbisiana Colla (ABB Group)
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Date
2010-12
Authors
V.Sathasivam, Kathiresan
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Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
There are two parts in this thesis. First part involves unmodified and modified banana trunk fibers (BTF) for the removal of (i) methyl red, a mutagenic monoazo dye, (ii) heavy metals ions, Cd (II), Cu (II), Fe (II) and Zn (II), and (iii) spilled oil in aqueous solution. Sulphuric acid treated BTF and oleic acid treated BTF exhibited the best sorption capacity for methyl red and spilled oil, respectively. The equilibrium processes of these studies were described well by the Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic models. Secondly, this work discusses the production of green composites. BTF were mechanically damaged using a high speed blender and the resulting fibers (MDBTF) were treated with (i) stearic acid (SAMDBTF) and (ii) calcium carbonate coated with 5% (wt/wt) stearic acid (SACCMDBTF). Oil uptake study was conducted and the results reveal that SAMDBTF and SACCMDBTF sorbed 9.5 g/g and 18.3 g/g of used engine oil at equilibrium, respectively. This work reveals that the treated fibers were efficient sorbents for oil spill recovery. The preparation of blends of various compositions of poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) and fatty acid esterified BTF (FAGBTF) was also discussed in this work. The characteristics of PVA/FAGBTF films were evaluated by means of thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FT-IR spectroscopy and tensile tests. It is found that the increased in the amount of BTF improved the thermal properties but decreased the percentage degree of swelling of blends as compared to the characteristics of pure PVA.
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Keywords
Unmodified and modified banana trunk fibers , for the removal of methyl red