A new approach to “Greening” plastic composites using pineapple leaf waste for performance and cost effectiveness

•A new and cost effective approach to adjusting green plastic composite properties.•A single renewable source, i.e. pineapple leaf waste, is used for plastic reinforcement.•Fibrous component provides superior performance over wood polymer composites.•Non-fibrous component provides extra stiffness without compromising strength.•Composite property is adjustable by adjusting the fraction of fibrous component.

The work described in this paper is the first detailed study aimed to demonstrate the important opportunity available in using all parts of a single renewable source, i.e. pineapple leaf waste, as filler for the preparation of green plastic composite with a wide range of adjustable properties. This will not only provide the product designer an opportunity to lower the material cost, but also offer an opportunity to adjust the price-performance ratio and make use of every part of the waste leaf. Fresh pineapple leaves, which contain about 85% water, are chopped into small pieces and ground into paste. This is called whole ground pineapple leaf (WGL) and contains approximately 2.8% by weight of high quality dry fiber, called pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) as well as a large fraction of non-fibrous material (NFM) of approximately 10% by weight. WGL, PALF and NFM are examined as fillers for polypropylene reinforcement. It was found that PALF provided the highest improvement in all mechanical properties tested (tensile, flexural and impact tests) and also heat distortion temperature, followed by WGL and NFM, respectively. NFM, although it provided only slightly improved tensile and flexural properties, could maintain or even improve impact strength. Brief consideration of environmental issues suggests that using pineapple leaf waste can be beneficial in terms of both lower embodied energy and also lower overall emissions.

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