Research & Development

The team collected coconut mid-ribs from Trou Aux Biches Beachcomber resort as well as banana pseudo stems from St Antoine Estate for the extraction of the lignocellulosic material.

The banana pseudostems were separated in sheaths before being fed through a mechanical decorticator machine to extract the fibres. Likewise, the coconut mid-ribs were cut into thinner sections before being fed to the decorticator machine.

Shredded coconut mid-rib fibres

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the biomass to be transformed into packaging material, chemical tests were performed in order to determine the cellulose content of each green waste. The results have shown that banana fibres, coconut mid-ribs, palm mid-ribs have a cellulosic content greater than 60%, which is comparable to wood chips (which are commonly used in the papermaking industry).