%0 Journal Article
%T Development of Sustainable Technology to Produce Jute-Ramie Blended Textile and Its Applications
%A Debkumar Biswas
%A Anup Kumar Nandi
%A Syamal Kanti Chakrabarti
%A Prabir Ray
%J Conference Papers in Science
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/578690
%X Ramie (Boehmeria nivea), commonly known as China grass, is the strongest and finest plant fibre which is considered one of the valuable textile entities. Despite its unique characteristics, ramie has received reasonably less importance specially in the Indian subcontinent due to unavailability of appropriate postharvesting and processing technologies. With increase in global environmental awareness, the alternative (to cotton) cellulosic natural fibre ˇ°ramieˇ± is gaining importance in the international textile domain. Sustainable methods and technologies which could trigger the utilization of ramie fibre are in demand worldwide. This paper will describe the developments carried out in the areas of postharvesting and spinning process of ramie. An ecofriendly degumming technology of ramie fibre has been elaborated along with suitable fibre processing route of ramie-jute blends that will bring new avenue for manufacturing jute diversified market acceptable products. 1. Introduction The raw ramie fibre is extracted by decortication of long fibre strands or ribbons, where gummy matter is encrusted around the ultimate fibre. Decorticated ramie fibre contains 25¨C30% of noncellulosic gummy matter (pectic colloidal substances, i.e., gum) [1] consisting of pectins, waxes, lignin, and hemicellulose. Postharvesting technology particularly ˇ°degummingˇ± is the most crucial aspect for successful processing of ramie fibre due to presence of gum which needs to be removed to the highest possible extent (degumming) without compromising fibre properties and performance [2]. The existing degumming technologies [3] commonly practiced in the Indian subcontinent region encounter multifold limitations including biohazard and processing difficulties. As a sustainable alternative, a user friendly degumming technology has been developed recently exploring biotechnological (enzymatic) method. A cocktail of enzymes has been judiciously formulated with market available varieties, namely, hemicellulase, pectinase and pectate lyase, and so forth, and applied on freshly decorticated ramie to get a fibre that could be transformed into valuable blended textiles. Degummed ramie fibre is suitable for textile applications since its properties have close coherence with the aesthetics of the apparel textiles [4]. However, available varieties of ramie fibre in India are difficult to process in both ˇ°long-stapleˇ± and ˇ°short-stapleˇ± spinning systems for producing finer yarns [5¨C7]; as a result ramie has been losing its worth in Indian textile scenario. A wide range of fibres have been tried for
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cpis/2013/578690/