| Kenaf | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malvales |
| Family: | Malvaceae |
| Genus: | Hibiscus |
| Species: | H. cannabinus |
| Binomial name | |
| Hibiscus cannabinus | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
List
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Kenaf [etymology: Persian],[2]Hibiscus cannabinus, is a plant in the familyMalvaceae also calledDeccan hemp andJava jute.Hibiscus cannabinus is in the genusHibiscus and is native toAfrica, though its exact origin is unknown.[1] The name also applies to thefibre obtained from this plant. Kenaf is one of the allied fibres ofjute and shows similar characteristics.
Other names includeBimli,Ambary,AmbariHemp, andBimlipatum Jute.
According to Miyake and Suzuta (1937), there are more than 129 names for kenaf worldwide.
It is anannual orbiennialherbaceous plant (rarely a short-livedperennial) growing to 1.5–3.5 m (4.9–11.5 ft) tall with a woody base. Thestems are 1–2 cm (0.4–0.8 in) diameter, often but not always branched. Theleaves are 10–15 cm (4–6 in) long and variable in shape; leaves near the base of the stems are deeply lobed (3 to 7 lobes) and leaves near the top of the stem are shallowly lobed or unlobedlanceolate. Theflowers are 8–15 cm (3–6 in) in diameter. The flower base color can be white, yellow, or purple, and the white and yellow flowers are dark purple in the center. Thefruit is acapsule 2 cm (0.8 in) in diameter and contains severalseeds.
The fibres in kenaf are found in thebast (bark) and core (wood). The bast constitutes 40% of the plant. "Crude fibre" separated from the bast is multi-cellular, consisting of several individual cells stuck together.[6] The individual fibre cells are about 2–6 mm long and slender. The cell wall is thick (6.3 μm). The core is about 60% of the plant and has fibre cells that are thick (≈38 μm) but short (0.5 mm) and thin-walled (3 μm).[7]Paper pulp can be produced using the whole stem, and therefore contains both bast and core fibres. The pulp quality is similar to that ofhardwood.
Kenaf is cultivated for its fibre inIndia,Bangladesh,United States of America,Indonesia,Malaysia,South Africa,Vietnam,Thailand, parts ofAfrica, and to a small extent in southeastEurope. The stems produce two types of fibre: a coarser fibre in the outer layer (bast fibre), and a finer fibre in the core. The bast fibres are used to make ropes. Kenaf matures in 100 to 200 days. First grown inEgypt over 3000 years ago, the leaves of the kenaf plant were a component of both human and animal diets, while the bast fibre was used for bags, cordage, and the sails for Egyptian boats. This crop was not introduced into southern Europe until the early 1900s. Today, while the principal farming areas areChina andIndia, Kenaf is also grown in countries including the US, Mexico, and Senegal.
The main uses of kenaf fibre have beenrope,twine, coarsecloth (similar to that made fromjute), andpaper. In California, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, 3,200 acres (13 km2) of kenaf were grown in 1992, most of which was used for animal bedding and feed.
Uses of kenaf fibre includeengineered wood;insulation;clothing-grade cloth; soil-less potting mixes; animal bedding; packing material; and material that absorbs oil and liquids. It is also useful as cut bast fibre for blending with resins in the making of plastic composites, as a drilling fluid loss-preventive for oil drilling muds, and for a seeded hydromulch for erosion control. Kenaf can be made into various types of environmental mats, such as seeded grass mats for instant lawns and moldable mats for manufactured parts and containers.Panasonic has set up a plant inMalaysia to manufacture kenaf fibre boards and export them to Japan.
Additionally, as part of an overall effort to make vehicles more sustainable, Ford and BMW are making the material for the automobile bodies in part from kenaf. The first implementation of kenaf within a Ford vehicle was in the 2013Ford Escape.[8] TheBMW i3 uses kenaf in the black surrounds.[9]
The use of kenaf is anticipated to offset 300,000 pounds of oil-based resin per year in North America and should reduce the weight of the door bolsters by 25 percent.
Reported in 2021, Kenaf Ventures, anIsraeli company, is developing and producing sustainable raw materials made from the kenaf plant (Hibiscus cannabinus) in an effort to decarbonize the construction sector without reducing product quality.[10]
Kenaf seeds yield an ediblevegetable oil. The kenaf seed oil is also used for cosmetics, industriallubricants and forbiofuel production. Kenaf oil is high in omegapolyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Kenaf seed oil contains a high percentage oflinoleic acid (Omega-6) a polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA). Linoleic acid (C18:2) is the dominant PUFA, followed byoleic acid (C18:1).Alpha-linolenic acid (C18:3) is present in 2 to 4 percent.
Kenaf seed oil is 20.4% of the total seed weight, similar to that of cotton seed.[citation needed]Kenaf Edible Seed Oil Contains:
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The most common process to make kenaf paper is usingsoda pulping before processing the obtainedpulp in apaper machine.
The use of kenaf in paper production offers various environmental advantages over producing paper from trees. In 1960, theUSDA surveyed more than 500 plants and selected kenaf as the most promising source oftree-free newsprint. In 1970, kenaf newsprint produced in theInternational Paper Company's mill inPine Bluff, Arkansas, was successfully used by six U.S. newspapers. Printing and writing paper made from the fibrous kenaf plant has been offered in the United States since 1992. Again in 1987, a Canadian mill produced 13 rolls of kenaf newsprint which were used by four U.S. newspapers to print experimental issues. They found that kenaf newsprint[11] made for stronger, brighter and cleaner pages than standard pine paper with less detriment to the environment. Due partly to kenaf fibres being naturally whiter than tree pulp, less bleaching is required to create a brighter sheet of paper.Hydrogen peroxide, an environmentally-safe bleaching agent that does not createdioxin, has been used with much success in thebleaching of kenaf.
Various reports suggest that the energy requirements for producing pulp from kenaf are about 20 percent less than those forwood pulp, mostly due to the lowerlignin content of kenaf. Many of the facilities that now process Southern pine for paper use can be converted to accommodate kenaf.[citation needed]
An area of 1-acre (4,000 m2) of kenaf produces 5 to 8 tons of raw plant bast and core fibre in a single growing season. In contrast, 1-acre (4,000 m2) of forest (in the US) produces approximately 1.5 to 3.5 tons of usable fibre per year. It is estimated that growing kenaf on 5,000 acres (20 km2) can produce enough pulp to supply a paper plant having a capacity of 200 tons per day. Over 20 years, 1-acre (4,000 m2) of farmland can produce 10 to 20 times the amount of fiber that 1-acre (4,000 m2) of Southern pine can produce.[12]
As one of the world's importantnatural fibres, kenaf is covered by theInternational Year of Natural Fibres 2009. The first novel to be published using 100% kenaf paper wasThe Land of Debris and the Home of Alfredo byKenn Amdahl (1997, Clearwater Publishing Company).[13]
David Brower, former Executive Director of theSierra Club, in chapter 8 of his semi-autobiographical environmental bookLet the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run: A Call to Save the Earth (1995, Harper Collins), titled "Forest Revolution", advocated for kenaf paper use and explained its many advantages over wood pulp. The first edition of the book was printed on kenaf paper.
