Development of textile yarn from a blend of musa sapientum banana - cotton fibres.

Abstract

The textile industry in Uganda is one of the most important sectors necessary to develop the economy if the Uganda National Textile Policy vision is to be implemented whose vision is; to create a strong and vibrant textile and clothing industry with sustainable capacity utilization and enhanced investment through the textile value chain. The vision is directed to the achievement of Uganda's Vision 2040. Uganda's textile mills mainly use synthetic fibers most of which are imported and cotton. There is still an underutilized potential in natural fibers and in particular Banana Fibers. The interest in natural fibers has increased significantly in the last few years. The abundance in nature combined with the ease of its processing is an attractive feature which makes it an important substitute for synthetic fibers which are potentially toxic. These lingo-cellulosic fibers possess many characteristics which make their use advantageous; low cost, low density, biological degradability, renewability, good mechanical properties and non-toxic. Examples of natural fibers are; banana, cotton, sisal, jute, bamboo, silk, flax etc Globally and in Uganda, production of bio-degradable textile materials is being encouraged. Most textile products on market today are made of synthetic fibers. The production of these materials is not eco-friendly and requires strong and toxic chemicals and high temperatures leading to generation of hazardous wastes. The disposal of these wastes is a major environmental and economic challenge thus need [or a bio-degradable fabric from banana fiber cotton blend that is comfortable to wear and cost effective. The main objective of this project was; to develop a textile yarn from a blend of Musa Sapientum Banana-Cotton fibres. Blending was first done by hand and later the mixed fibres were taken to the Lab-scale Card to achieve proper blending and parallelization. The project established that blend ratios of 80:20, 70:30 and 65:35 and that they were possible, a perfect blend being obtained using the lab scale card machine or any other machine that can be adapted to that purpose. Also it was found that the filament sisal-like banana fibres can be softened by boiling them in lye or wood ash to the required level of softness. Products made out of Banana Fibre Cotton blend are bio-degradable since they are a II cellulosic in nature. These products also have good aesthetic properties which makes them Comf0l1able to wear. The use of waste BF will also lead to increase in banana farmer's income and if well exploited nationally can increase the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the long run.