Banana tree sap flame retardant for textiles
Banana pseudostem sap (BPS), a regionally widely available by-product/waste of fruit production, was tested as an “eco-friendly” flame retardant for cotton textile (bleached woven cotton fibre). The cotton was pre-treated with tannic acid and alum, then impregnated in BPS by 30 mins. immersion under alkali condition, dosing soda ash (sodium carbonate) then drying at 110°C.
Flame retardancy was significant, e.g. 1.6x increased LOI (limiting oxygen index), vertical self-extinguishing, horizontal afterglow spread 10x reduced compared to untreated textile. Wash durability of the BPS treatment was not good, but fibre mechanical strength was not deteriorated. The authors suggest that the flame retardancy effect of BPS may be due to the inorganic potassium, magnesium and phosphate salts in naturally contains.
“Flame resistant cellulosic substrate using banana pseudostem sap”, S. Basak et al., Polish J Chemical Technology, 17, 1, 123-133, 2015 http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/pjct.2015.17.issue-1/pjct-2015-0018/pjct-2015-0018.xml