Effect of water retting on the chemical composition of Calotropis gigantea fibres: Analysis using FTIR Spectroscopy

Textile Technology

The use of unconventional natural fibres such as bast fibres from several plants is gaining importance as conventional natural fibres such as cotton, wool, silk are considered less sustainable fibres for several reasons such as the massive water and pesticide consumption for cultivation in case of cotton for instance. The need for sustainable fibres to partly replace these conventional fibres is gaining importance in the field of apparel and textiles. In this study, we have attempted to extract fibres from the stems of Calotropis gigantea using standing water and without any additives, for a period of 3 days. The FTIR spectroscopy of dry extracted calotropis fibres and water-retted fibres was performed. It is observed the effect of water retting is significant and there is a remarkable decrease in the lignin and pectin content. In addition, it is also noticed that the hemi-cellulose content in the fibre also decreased. This shows that water retting is also an efficient and sustainable method for fibre extraction from Calotropis gigantea.

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