Environmental Engineering and Management Journal March 2012, Vol.11, No.

3, 651-659
http://omicron.ch.tuiasi.ro/EEMJ/

“Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, Romania

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY VEGETAL FIBER BASED

MATERIALS

Adrian Catalin Puitel, Bogdan Marian Tofanica, Dan Gavrilescu

“Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iaşi, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection,
Department of Natural and Synthetic Polymers, 71 A Mangeron Blvd., 700050 - Iaşi, Romania

Abstract

The current work analyses the potential usage of vegetal fibers environmentally sound based materials. The paper
approaches the main applications of vegetal fiber sustainable integration into products. The origin of vegetal fibers
and the degree of processing affect their chemical composition and furthermore its performance in future application.
Some aspects on the structure and chemical composition of vegetal fibers are presented. The usage of vegetal fibers
for manufacturing on paper and fiber containing composites is considered. Paper is the most important fiber based
material and non woods as sustainable virgin fiber sources are discussed.
Besides papermaking, vegetal fibers are potentially usable as reinforcements in cement and gypsum fiber composites.
Some considerations regarding manufacturing processes and factors affecting mechanical properties of composites
are presented. Other usages of vegetal fiber involve the manufacturing of polymer matrix composites. The chemical
ways to improve interfacial linking between vegetal fibers and polymeric matrix are shortly underlined. Aspects
regarding the environmental impact and life cycle assessment of the vegetal fiber based materials were taken into
consideration.

Key words: cellulose, composites, paper, sustainability, vegetal fiber

Received: September, 2011; Revised final: February, 2012; Accepted: March, 2012

1. Introduction The main sources of vegetal fibers are wood,

Fibers represent a class of hairy like materials
“that are continuous filaments or are in discrete
elongated pieces, similar to pieces of thread” (Sahoo,
2011), of natural or synthetic origin. Vegetal, animal
and mineral fibers make up the class of natural fibers.
Vegetal fibers originate in plants and according to
that, they may be divided in nonwood fibers and
wood fibers (Table 1). Both components chemical
groups include cellulose, commonly in a matrix of
hemicelluloses, lignin, pectins, and proteins (Ishii and
Shimizu, 2001). The use of vegetal fibers has found
many industrial applications as engineering materials
in textile industry, pulp and paper manufacturing,
packaging, composite (Mohanty et al., 2002).
recovered paper and nonwoods plants. By far, the
most important industrial source of cellulosic fibers is
wood (Sixta, 2006). Recovered paper is already an
important raw material of the paper industry headed
towards sustainability. In this way, recovered vegetal
fibers are raw materials in a new production cycle
(Bobu et al., 2010). Nonwood plants are of increasing
interest as potential vegetal fiber resources.
Agricultural residues are nonwood fibers derived
from waste left over after harvest from an existing
agricultural land use, usually a food crop. Agricultural
residues include cereal straws (wheat, rice, rye), flax
straw, corn stalks, rapeseed stalks, sorghum stalks,
bagasse, reed etc. (Gavrilescu et al., 2009; Puitel et
al., 2011).


Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed: e-mail: gda@ch.tuiasi.ro
 Puitel et al./Environmental Engineering and Management Journal 11 (2012), 3, 651-659
The environmentally friendliness of vegetal
fibers when compared to synthetic fibers, resides on
their economicity (given by their low cost and low
resource consumption for their production),
renewability, low density, recyclability,
biodegradability and carbon sequestration
(Satyanarayana et al., 2009). Several widely cited
disadvantages of the vegetal fibers might include high
level of moisture absorption capacity, dimension
instability as a negative effect of water absorption,
susceptibility to microbial attack and rotting,
restricted processing temperature due to low
decomposition temperature of chemical components,
insufficient adhesion and incompatibility with the
matrix and aging (Gavrilescu et al., 2009).
Sustainable development in the production of
different materials means integration of natural and
renewable resources into processes and products.
Despite the mentioned disadvantages, the
vegetal fibers have been extensively investigated as
possible substitutes for synthetic fibers (Monteiro et
al., 2009). To partially overcome some of these
differences and to increase the compatibility between
the matrix and vegetal cellulose fiber, several
chemical treatments have been developed and applied
(Satyanarayana et al., 2009).
2. Chemical composition and properties of vegetal
fibers
The origin of vegetal fiber and the degree of
processing dictates its chemical composition and
furthermore affects its performance in future
application. In fact, the selection of different vegetal
fibers types for different applications takes into
account the physical, chemical and mechanical
properties.
Vegetal fiber structural characterization
research has emphasized that a single fiber is a three-
dimensional entity, which in its natural form, consists
mainly of two groups of organic compounds:
carbohydrates (hemicelluloses and cellulose) and
lignin. Other natural chemical compounds such as
pectins, proteins, extractives (including phenolic
compounds) and inorganics may be also present in
Table 1. Fibers classification of and list of vegetal fibers (Gavrilescu et al., 2009)
Cellulose fibers Cellulose acetate, triacetate; art silk; lyocell; modal rayon; rayon
Synthetic Mineral fiber Fiberglas; Metallic fibers; Carbon fibers; Silicon carbide fibers
Polymer fibers Acrylic; Nylon; Polylefin; Polyester; Polyethylene; Spandex; Vinyon
Animal fibers Angora; Cashmere; Mohair; Silk
Wood
Fibers fibers
Natural Vegetal fibers
Nonwood
fibers
Mineral fibers Asbestos
652
minor amounts (Bledzki et al., 2002). The fiber
structure comprises a primary wall, three secondary
wall layers and a lumen. In woods, fiber structure
includes also a lignin rich middle lamella (Daniel,
2009). Chemical composition differs from plant to
plant and even within the same plant itself. While
lignin protects the plant and acts as natural
reinforcement in plants, cellulose provides flexibility
and mechanical strength to plant structure. Lignin is
also particularly hydrophobic and stable towards the
attack of microorganisms. Cellulose, hemicelluloses
and lignin play a significant role in the carbon cycle,
sequestering atmospheric carbon into the living
tissues of wood and nonwoods vegetation (Gavrilescu
et al., 2009). Table 2 reveals the chemical
composition of some vegetal fibers.
Knowledge about fiber dimensions (length and
width) is important for comparing different types of
vegetal fibers. A high aspect ratio (length/width) is
very important in fiber-based composites as it give an
indication of possible strength properties (Ververis et
al., 2004). The length and width of some common
vegetal fibers are shown in Table 3. In many cases,
there is a wide variation in both length and width.
Biodegradability of vegetal fibers is the key of
environmentally friendliness for vegetal fiber based
materials. Vegetal fibers are fully biodegradable; the
biodegradation occurs mostly by enzyme catalysis –
Fig. 1. Enzymes that are taking part in the process of
degradation – cellulase, hemicellulase and lignin
peroxidase are produced by a large number of
microorganisms which include fungi and bacteria.
Besides enzyme catalytic biodegradation, multiple
phenomena occur during vegetal fiber presence in the
environment. The constituents of vegetal fibers are
also subject to influence of electromagnetic radiation,
mechanical stress, temperature and humidity
variations, and pollutant gases. These factors
accelerate the natural occurring degradation of the
vegetal fibers chemical constituents.
The most studied cellulolytic and
hemicellulolytic enzyme producing fungi are those
belonging to Ascomycetes group: Trichoderma,
Fusarium, Penicillium, Humicola and some
Aspergilli. Trichoderma reesei, Coneophora puteana.
Softwood Fir; Pine; Sequoia; Spruce
Hardwood Aspen; Beech; Birch; Poplar; Willow
Bast Flax; Hemp; Kenaf; Ramie ;Jute
Leaf Sisal; Abaca
Fruit Cotton ; Kapok ; Coir
Grass Cereal straw ; Reed ; Bamboo ; Esparto ; Papyrus
 Environmentally friendly vegetal fiber based materials

Table 2. Chemical composition of some vegetal fiber sources

Chemical composition (%)

Species Common name References
Cellulose Hemicellulose Lignin Extractives Ash
Triticum sativum Wheat straw 40 29 18.5 5.7 6.8 Han and Rowell, 1996
Oryza sativa Rice straw 38 25.5 14 5 17.5 Han and Rowell, 1996
Stipa tenacissima Esparto grass 35.5 29.5 18 10 7 Han and Rowell, 1996
Phragmites communis Common reed 52.3 21 19.3 5.1 2.8 Simionescu and Rozmarin,1966
Brssica napus Rapeseed stalk 41 24.9 21.5 6.8 5.8 Tofanica et al., 2011
Eucalyptus globus Blue Gum 51.3 25.2 21.9 1.3 <1 Koch, 2006
Fagus sylvatica Common Beech 39.4 33.3 24.8 1.2 <1 Koch, 2006
Populus tremula Poplar 49.4 26 18.1 6.6 <1 Fengel and Wegener, 1984
Quercus robur Oak 41.1 22.2 29.6 12.6 <1 Fengel and Wegener, 1984
Abies alba Silver fir 42.3 25.5 28.9 2.3 <1 Fengel and Wegener, 1984
Picea abies Spruce 46 24.4 27.3 2 <1 Fengel and Wegener, 1984

Table 3. Length and width of selected annual plant fibers and wood fibers

Species Common name Fiber length, mm Fiber width, µm Ratio length/ References
Average Range Average Range width
Triticum sativum Wheat straw 1.4 0.4-3.2 15 8-34 93 Ilvessalo-Pfäffli, 1995
Oryza sativa Rice straw 1.4 0.4-3.2 8 4-16 175 Ilvessalo-Pfäffli, 1995
Stipa tenacissima Esparto grass 1.2 0.2-3.3 13 6-22 92 Ilvessalo-Pfäffli, 1995
Phragmites communis Common reed 1.15 0.3-2.3 19.5 12-39 60 Simionescu and Rozmarin,1966
Brssica napus Rapeseed stalk 1.2 0.7-2 13.1 9-20 91 Tofanica et al., 2011
Eucalyptus globus Blue Gum 1.1 0.3-1.5 20 10-28 55 Ilvessalo-Pfäffli, 1995
Fagus sylvatica Common Beech 1.2 0.5-1.7 21 14-30 57 Ilvessalo-Pfäffli, 1995
Populus tremula Poplar 0.9 0.2-1.6 19 13-30 50 Ilvessalo-Pfäffli, 1995
Quercus robur Oak 1.1 0.5-1.6 23 14-30 50 Ilvessalo-Pfäffli, 1995
Abies alba Silver fir 3.7 1.6-5.7 38 18-58 100 Ilvessalo-Pfäffli, 1995
Picea abies Spruce 3.4 1.1-6 31 21-40 110 Ilvessalo-Pfäffli, 1995

Enz Enz
O O
O
O
H
OH OH OH
O O O OH
glycosylation H R
HO O HO O
O
HO HO deglycosylation HO R
HO O
HO HO HO HO
O OH
Enz O
Enz O R HOR
acceptor Enz
OH Enz O
O O + O
O
HO OH O
O
HO H
HO

Fig. 1. Mechanism of enzyme hydrolysis of cellulose

Bacterial degradation occurs in presence of bonding between the individual fibers. In certain
species such as Thermobifida fusca, Cellulomonas cases it is enhanced by the addition of starch or wet
fimi, Bacilli Erwinia (Teeri and Henriksson, 2009). strength additives. Paper is considered easily
Lignin may also suffer biodegradation due to recyclable: during the repulping process, the paper is
enzymes secreted by organisms such as white rot rewetted, by thus the hydrogen bonds are weekened
fungi (order Basidomycetes) and tunneling bacteria and fibers liberated (Holik, 2006).
(Clostridium xylanolyticum). Paper had a significant contribution to human
culture and civilization development (Holik, 2006).
3. Paper as vegetal fiber based environmentally The word “paper” etymology is “papyrus”, which in
friendly material fact designated a plant’s pith like paper material and
which was firstly used as information carrier. Paper
Paper is a material consisting of a network was, for centuries, the most important information
(Fig. 2) of cellulose fibers, being an essentially a mat media, being outrun only by today’s electronic age.
of cellulose fibers, combined with open pore space, However, today paper is regaining its importance in
with interfiber bonding being provided by hydrogen human daily use. Different paper sorts have been
bonds where the fibers touch one another (Kellya, developed for different types of application. Paper is
2009). The special characteristic of this fiber based showing to be the one of the few promising and truly
material is that its strength results from the hydrogen environmentally friendly packaging material, being

653
 Puitel et al./Environmental Engineering and Management Journal 11 (2012), 3, 651-659
based on vegetal cellulose fibers - a renewable,
recyclable and easily biodegradable material.
The continuous and lately increased
environmentalists’ pressure on the pulp and paper
producers has grown their attention on possible
alternative sources of raw matter such as non woods.
Non wood fiber sources already represent and
important raw matter category in Asian countries such
as India, China and Vietnam, some even becoming
traditional (Hammett et al., 2001). Using of non wood
fiber sources is regarded as a potential option in
places where wood resources are limited (Hedjazia et
al., 2009). In case of common reed (Phragmites
Communis), China seems to be the most important
worldwide user of reed in papermaking (Lewis and
Jackson, 2002).
Fig. 2. A SEM image of fibers networking on paper surface
Although some disadvantages such as lower
yield in pulping, higher fines content in pulp and
higher silica content have been pointed out by
different authors (Sridach, 2010), non woods have
been considered attractive as raw material for pulping
from various environmental and economic reasons
which include: faster growing rate and some
harvesting costs of agricultural residues are covered
by the main crop. In some well developed areas there
are more residues available than can be used as soil
fertilisers or for other agricultural purposes including
animal feed, leading to burn-offs, landing, or other
non environmentally friendly disposal methods
(Demirbas, 2008).
The main categories of non-wood fiber sources
include: fiber crops such as kenaf (Vilarr et all.,
2009), hemp (Dang et al., 2006), bagasse (Huang et
al., 2008), abaca (Jimenez et al., 2008) cardoon
(Gominho and Pereira, 2006), agricultural residues
which are materials remaining after the main crop has
been harvested, generally called straws and stalks
(Deniz et al. 2004; Hedjazia et al., 2009; Tutus, 2004)
and spontaneous wild growing plants such as reed and
giant reed (Abrantes et al., 2007; Finell and Nilsson,
2004), grass (Ai and Tschirner, 2010) canary grass
(Haltia et al., 1997), giant hesperaloe (Sanchez et al.,
2010).
654
Problems with non-wood fiber production
include collection and transportation, storage and
handling, washing, pulping and bleaching,
papermaking, and chemical recovery (Hammet et al.,
2001). A study of Rodriguez et al. (2010) pointed out
that agricultural residues are an economically feasible
source of raw material. These statements are defended
by data regarding α-cellulose content, kappa number,
and intrinsic viscosity, physical and mechanical
properties of the obtained bleached soda pulp.
Moreover, the unbleached pulp proved to be a viable
source of virgin fiber for packaging paper. With
properly cleaned and prepared nonwood fibre raw
material which enters the digester, many of the
difficulties of producing pulp and paper from
nonwoods have been overcome.
Raw matter consumption for bleached pulp is
about 2.65-2.85 t of wheat straw for 1 tone of
bleached pulp and 1.65-1.77 t of wheat straw for 1 t
of unbleached pulp (Hurter, 2002). The experimental
studies concerning pulping of the non-wood plants
include a wide variety of options: kraft, soda, soda–
antraquinone, soda–parabenzoquinone, potassium
hydroxide (Abrantes et al., 2007). Organosolv
processes such as ethanol–soda, ASAM and
organocell pulping followed by short peroxide
bleaching in case of Arundo Donax have been also
tested with good results (Shatalov and Pereira, 2005).
Employing TCF bleaching for non-woods reclaims
totally closure of water circuits and effluent free
operation (Rousu et al., 2002).
4. Vegetal fiber environmentally friendly
composites
A composite material denotes a material that is
different from common heterogeneous materials.
Among the most cited definitions for the composite
materials the one provided by Gay (Gay et al., 2003),
which states that the “term composite materials refers
to materials having strong fibers-continuous or non-
continuous, surrounded by a weaker matrix material.
The matrix serves to distribute the fibers and
also to transmit the load to the fibers composite
material”. The matrix materials used for the design
and manufacturing of the composites may be
classified as: mineral matrix, which includes cement,
gypsum and concrete mixture silicon carbide and
carbon; organic polymeric matrix such as
thermoplastic resins (polypropylene, polyphenylene
sulfone, polyamide, polyetheretherketone, etc.) and
thermoset resins (polyesters, phenolics, melamines,
silicones, polyurethanes, epoxies); metallic matrix
aluminum alloys, titanium alloys, oriented eutectics
(Gay et al. 2003; Zweben, 2002).
4.1. Mineral matrix composites
Apart from cellulose insulation, which is
already used at large scale in some world countries,
vegetal fiber reinforced concrete, fiber reinforced
cement and fiber reinforced gypsum are the materials
 Environmentally friendly vegetal fiber based materials
which are gaining the attention of builders as new
building materials. The contained vegetal fibers are
included in the composition as a mean of
reinforcement of the structural integrity.
(Rajeshkumar et al., 2010).
Since 1950’s asbestos, glass fibers and
synthetic polymeric fibers have been used for mixing
and reinforcement of this type of building materials.
Inorganic matrix-vegetal fiber composite materials
have been designed to replace the classical fiber
reinforced building materials (gypsum, concrete and
cement composites). Asbestos banning due to its
implication in human health problems (Joshi and
Gupta, 2005) has led to an increasing interest in
vegetal fibers as replacement materials for asbestos
reinforced products of building components in
combination with cement mortar or cement pastes
matrices for low cost housing.
The best potential for the using these materials
is through their conversion into various kinds of
building panels and blocks. Other reason for
including fibers in concrete and cement material is the
control some of the cracking phenomena (Fig. 3)
caused either by the drying or by other factors. The
effects of introducing fibers in cement and concrete
materials are the reduced bleeding of water and
resistance to impact, abrasion, shatter, ductility and
flexural resistance (Moslemi, 2008).
Cracking
direction
Fig. 3. Vegetal fiber cement composite cracking and
cracking prevention principle
Over the last decade there has been a
continuous debate on the potential of integrating
vegetal fibers into new and environmentally friendly
building composite materials. Vegetal fibers have an
enormous potential of replacing classical energy
intensive materials, considered responsible for global
climate change (Ardentea et al., 2008).
Cement-fiber composites production
techniques have been divided in two main categories:
the cast-in-place technique and the precast
manufacturing techniques (Shao et al., 1995). These
techniques can be generalized as cast-in-place
techniques and precast manufacturing techniques.
Most attention and research efforts through the last
two decades have focused on precast manufacturing
techniques, which include the Hatschek (Fig. 4),
slurry/dewatering, extrusion process and the cast in
place process (Johnston, 2001, Heribert, 2008).
As a general rule, the mechanical properties
values are dictated by the needs in the use phase of
the proposed vegetal fiber cement composites (Mohr
et al., 2006). Since these vegetal fibers are natural, the
necessity to understand their long term behavior is
extremely important, because they are considered as
having a low capacity to maintain their properties
with time. Vegetal fiber – cement composites’
mechanical properties are also the result of the control
of manufacturing process.
Durability represents actual challenge and
concerns all construction materials. Most of the works
in the field present several identified factors that
influence the mechanical properties of vegetal fiber-
cement composites as well as the durability. These
factors are: fiber weight/volume fraction, cement
matrix composition, vegetal fiber source, fiber
processing, beating of vegetal fibers, fiber moisture
state, curing conditions (Mohr et al., 2005).
Testing the durability of vegetal fibers
reinforced building materials is usually performed by
wet/dry cycle and freeze/thaw cycle. These tests are
also referred as accelerated aging, while sometimes
exposure to real environment conditions is preferred.
Wet/dry cycle test consists in exposing the building
material to a series of 25 or more wetting and drying
cyles. It is hypothesized that the strongly alkaline
environment generated during wetting strongly affects
the fiber integrity, causing depolymerisation of fiber
components and loss of strength (Filho et al., 2009).
4.2. Polymeric matrix – vegetal fiber composites
Introducing vegetal fibers as reinforcement
and weight reducing factors in polymeric matrix
composites reduces the environmental burden of
products obtained from these materials (Hatakeyama,
2004). The production of vegetal fiber polymeric
matrix involves several important stages. At first the
fibers are selected and if necessary processed by
physical, mechanical or chemical means. Polymeric
matrix and the additives are selected according to the
needs and separately processed or conditioned.
Additives which are used in the production of both
categories may include inert fillers, pigments, UV
stabilizers, catalysts, inhibitors, and thickeners
(Ehrenstein and Theriault, 2001.).
The industrial application of the vegetal fiber-
polymer matrix composites has occurred at industrial
level (Mohini et al., 2008). It is widely agreed that the
mechanical properties of vegetal-fiber-reinforced
polymers are determined by the characteristics of the
fibers, the polymeric matrices and the interaction
between fiber-matrix.
However, the main disadvantages of natural
fibers in composites are the poor compatibility
between fiber and matrix and the relative high
moisture sorption. The interfacial behavior between
the fibers and polymer matrices has long been
recognized as a key factor influencing the overall
properties of composite materials (Mallick, 2007).
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 Puitel et al./Environmental Engineering and Management Journal 11 (2012), 3, 651-659
Fiber-matrix interfacial phenomena controls
stress transfer between fiber and matrix, stress
redistribution as well as mechanisms of damage
accumulation and propagation. The bonding between
fibers and matrix has fundamental influence on the
mechanical properties of the composite material (Fig.
5). A better understanding of the chemical bonding of
between vegetal fibers and polymeric matrix is
necessary for developing vegetal fiber composites
(Monteiro, 2009).
Examples of chemical treatments include:
alkaline treatment or mercerization, esterification and
eterification, graft polymerization, peroxide
treatment, potassium permanganate treatment, sodium
chlorite treatment, isocyanate stearic acid treatment
(George et al., 2004; Li et al., 2007). Esterification is
one of the most used chemical treatments of vegetal
cellulose fibers. These are routes to be taken into
consideration for improving fibers/matrix bonding
and reducing water absorption capacity of the vegetal
fiber polymer matrix composites (Klemm et al., 1998;
Bessadok et al., 2007). Biochemical processing
includes treatments performed with the help of
commercially available enzymes or microorganisms
(Gulati and Sain, 2006; Li and Pickering, 2009;
Pommet et al., 2008).
5. Life cycle assessment of vegetal fiber based
materials
Life cycle assessment (LCA) of products is the
most widely used method in establishing the potential
environmental impact of a given material product or
service. The most common definition of LCA is the
investigation and evaluation of the environmental
impacts of a given product or service caused or
necessitated by its existence.
The goal of LCA is to asses and balances all
the possible impact of the product from its very
Slurry feed tank
Acumulator roll
Cement - fiber ply
Sieve cilinders
Fig. 4. Example of an industrial cement-fiber pre-cast manufacturing process (Illston, 2010)
Fig. 5. Principle of fiber polymer matrix interfacial link improvement by chemical treatment
656
beginning to its life end. There are several
standardized LCA methodologies mentioned, but
most of them include the same phases: goal and scope
definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment and
interpretation of the results. The procedures of life
cycle assessment (LCA) are part of the ISO 14000
environmental management standards: in ISO
14040:2006 and 14044:2006. (ISO 14044 replaced
earlier versions of ISO 14041 to ISO 14043 (Tillman,
2000).
From an environmental perspective, non wood
plant pulping has a lower environmental impact. In
case of cropped fibers, a recently published LCA
work of González-García et al. (2010) pointed out
that the production of agricultural cropped fiber is the
main contributor to the environmental impact of non-
wood based pulp production.
Environmental concerns and regulations may
drive to usage of nonwood sources in pulp. Non-wood
pulps tend to be easier to bleach to a convenient
brightness level with lower bleaching reagents
consumption or by using shorter bleaching sequences
as reported by some authors (Shatalov and Pereira,
2005). Introducing advanced sorting technologies for
recovered paper contributes to an overall
environmental burden reduction of paper production
system (Bobu et al., 2010; Iosip et al., 2010).
In the case of vegetal fiber composites, a
simplified life cycle approach may be visualized in
Fig. 6. Vegetal fiber production’s green house gases
emission are generally lower than in case of artificial
fibers (Joshi et al., 2004; Gavrilescu et al., 2009).
Additional information might be needed in
case of industrial crops which may involve additional
resources and energy consumption which are to be
measured and included in LCA studies (Umair, 2009).
Vegetal fiber-cement
composite product
Felt band
Vacuum
 Environmentally friendly vegetal fiber based materials
Fig. 6. Simplified schematic approach of vegetal fiber
reinforced composite material life cycle
If fiber crops or agricultural wastes are to be
used as sources of vegetal fibers this issue should be
carefully analyzed (Van Dam and Bos, 2004; Xu et
al., 2008). Waste paper contains carbon and therefore
the recycling of these products keeps carbon
sequestered (Gavrilescu et al., 2009).
Manufacturing of the composites is also an
important life cycle stage. Processing of vegetal fiber
to improve the interfacial matrix bonding is generally
affecting the green image of the obtained composites
due to additional resource and energy consumption. It
is generally agreed that natural fiber composites have
higher fiber content for equivalent performance,
reducing more polluting base polymer content. As
regarding the functional unit the most used is the
mass weight of the material produced or the unit of
product. A term called “material service density”,
which is defined as the volume of material satisfying
a specific strength requirement (Xu et al., 2008). The
rationale behind this is that specific volumes of
different materials are required to withstand a given
mechanical load.
Energy inputs and environmental emissions
may also occur during the use phase. In case of
automotive composites, incorporation of vegetal
fibers in different components up to 30% weight
reflects in fuel consumption and emission reduction
(Joshi et al., 2004). The reuse, recycle or recovery is
generally the widest accepted end of life route
(European Environment Agency, 2007). Co-
incineration of automotive waste vegetal fibers results
in recovered energy and carbon credits.
6. Conclusions
Vegetal fibers are important natural and
renewable organic resources that originated in various
plant species. Sustainable development in the
production of different materials means integration of
natural and renewable resources into processes and
products.
Paper is the most important and well known
vegetal fiber based material. Besides recovered paper
use as fiber source, new trends in paper industry
indicate non wood plants as alternative raw fiber
sources. Biodegradability of cellulose – the main
paper component is one of the key factors in
environmentally friendliness of paper.
Integration of vegetal fiber into fiber cement
composites used in housing and different building
activities has occurred from the need of preventing
cracking and replacing toxic asbestos fibers. It is
relatively difficult to generalize the influence factors
mentioned to all vegetal fiber cement composites.
Apart from the contribution of vegetal fiber
source, polymeric matrix, additives, manufacturing
process in the case the vegetal fiber polymer matrix
composites. Several treatments are in practice for
improving the interfacial link between the vegetal
fibers and the polymeric matrix.
Vegetal fiber use in composites manufacturing
contributes to their carbon footprint reduction due to
atmospheric CO2 consumption in the biosynthesis
process. Vegetal fiber based composites that are
already in the production of different goods have been
already proven to have a lower overall life cycle
environmental impact and better environmental
compatibility when compared with synthetic fiber
based composites. Chemically treatment procedures
may negatively affect the results of LCA analysis.
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