Development of Luffa Cylindrica Nonwoven Structure and assessment of its suitability as a packaging and shopping bag material

Abstract

Plastic packaging materials have been in existence since their invention by a Swedish engineer in the 1960s. Because polythene shopping bags can take up to 1000 years to degrade, they result in substantial and continuous deterioration of the environment. Some East African countries have initiated and some implemented the ban of polythene bags. It was upon this background that renewable and biodegradable luffa cylindrica nonwoven alternative was developed to help feel part of this gap. The objectives of the study were therefore, to extract luffa cylindrica fibres and to characterise its mechanical properties; and to produce a nonwoven structure from luffa cylindrica fibres and characterise their mechanical properties. The methodology entailed. The characterisation of Luffa cylindrica fibres in terms of fibre diameter, linear density, moisture regain, lignin content, hemicellulose content, cellulose content and effect of water retting, gauge length and concentration of sodium hydroxide on breaking load, elongation (ISO 5079:1995), tenacity and linear density(ISO 1973:1995). A dry laid adhesively bonded nonwoven structure was then produced from luffa cylindrica fibres and assessed for mass per unit area (ISO 9073-1:1989), thickness (ISO 9073-2:1995), tensile strength and elongation (ISO 9073-3:1989), tearing strength (ISO 9073-4:1997), and bursting strength (ISO 13938-2:1999). Full factorial experimental design was used to study luffa cylindrica fibres properties. Data analysis was conducted using Minitab- 17 and Microsoft Excel 2010 software. The luffa cylindrica fibres had a moisture regain of 10.81%, lignin content of 12.03%, cellulose content of 65.69%, hemicellulose content of 19%, linear density range of (470-572) dTex, and fibre diameter of (0.0018- 0.0041) mm. The determined breaking load of the fibre was (417.04-1444.19) cN after water retting and (298.05-997.81) cN after various caustic treatments. The fibre elongation was (4.0-24.0) % after water retting and (4.3-14.5) % after various caustic treatments. Tenacity of luffa cylindrica fibres was (6.0-25.25) cN/Tex after water retting and (5.9-20.22) cN/Tex after various caustic treatments. The nonwoven structure had mass per unit area (645-3386) g/m 2 , thickness (1.48-1.80) mm, tensile strength of (1.4-110.2) N, elongation of (2.8-13.8) %, tearing strength of (2,292.5- 47,952.0) mN, and bursting strength of (79.4-338.2) kilopascals. The nonwoven structure properties satisfied the requirements for bursting strength and tearing strength specified by Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) for shopping bags. The study thus provides a possibility of using luffa cylindrica nonwoven structure as a potential substitute for polythene packaging and shopping bags on the Kenyan market.