Banana Fibre Processing for Yarn and Fabric Manufacturing

Background/Problem Description:

The invention provides an integrated chemical modification and spinning process for converting coarse banana and jute lignocellulosic fibres into fine, flexible and spinnable fibres and producing fine pure banana and banana/jute blended yarns using conventional jute-processing and spinning machinery. The process includes fibre cutting, controlled NaOH treatment, washing and neutralization, optional hydrogen peroxide bleaching, softener treatment, drying, oil-emulsion application, fibre opening/individualization, carding and multi-stage gill drawing before yarn formation. This integrated treatment modifies fibre morphology and improves its suitability for fine-yarn spinning. The supporting data show that treated banana fibre fineness decreases from 8.6 tex to 5.8 tex, and flexural rigidity from 261 to 65 cN·mm², demonstrating improved fineness and flexibility. The process also enables the development of chemically modified 100% banana yarn and banana/jute blended yarns in 70:30 and 50:50 compositions, whereas the corresponding raw-fibre yarns were not possible to develop at the specified machine count under the reported conditions. The developed yarns provide a route to banana-rich, fine-count and lightweight textile materials for apparel and home-textile applications.

Technology Description:

The technological solution demonstrated is the production of chemically modified banana fibre to produce 100% banana yarn and banana/jute blended yarns with blend ratios of 70:30 and 50:50. The research findings suggest that yarn counts of 4–8 lb/spyndle can be developed from chemically modified banana and/or jute fibres. In contrast, a similar yarn count cannot be produced from the raw fibres. The novelty of the proposed invention lies in chemical modification of fibre to make them fine and flexible fibre. Subsequently, these fibres are converted into pure banana and blended yarns using a conventional jute spinning system. All such yarns can be utilized in developing suitable woven fabrics