Natural Fibers from Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) Stalks as Reinforcing Filler for Recycled LDPE

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) is an annually grown herbaceous plant. It is usually up to 2.5 m or 8.2 feet high and has large green leaves and long trumpet-shaped white-pinkish flowers. The cultivation of tobacco plants can be seen globally. Tobacco plants are widely used for its leaves as it is processed into tobacco. It is usually used as the main component in the production of cigarettes, cigars, and other products for smokers. Since there is a big production of tobacco here in the Philippines, there are also a lot of tobacco stalks that were turning into wastes. That's why the researchers thought of a way to transform those unused stalks into a useful product.

METHODS

The flat-pressing process was the method that was followed in the production of the natural fiber composite. The crushed tobacco stalks and the LDPE plastic were first mixed together and was placed in a molder with a size of 30cm x 30cm. The compounded mass was placed between a two-piece aluminum plates. The mold was pressed using a flat pressing machine wherein the temperature was set to 150°C for 20 minutes. Weighs were then put on the boards to ensure that the mixture was really compressed. The boards were then trimmed to remove excess mixture that flowed out of the molds.

RESULTS

The strength properties (MOR and MOE) of the boards are very low comparing to the standard set by the PNS 230-1989. In water absorption 0:100 have the highest percentage with 55.94%. In thickness swelling, all the boards passed the standard set by the PNS 230-1989. Lastly, for the moisture content the 30:70 and 50:50 passed the standard, while the ratio of 0:100 had a higher percentage than the set standard value.

DISCUSSIONS

The study has produced composite boards from the mixture of LDPE plastics and tobacco stalks. The boards manifest great dimensional stability, the mixture of 30:70 and 50:50 shows low moisture content while the mixture of 0:100 shows high moisture content. All mixture shows low thickness swelling after 24 hours immersion in water. They are all (30:70, 50:50, 0:100) poor in strength properties. Therefore, these types of boards can be used for the exterior but non-load bearing applications, examples are walls, ceiling, and kitchen partitions.