M. Siti Alwani, H. P.S. Abdul Khalil, M. Asniza, S. S. Suhaily,

A. S. Nur Amiranajwa, and M. Jawaid

Contents

5.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 78

5.2 Classification of Agricultural Biomass Raw Materials……………………………………………………. 79

5.3 Agricultural Biomass Properties……………………………………………………………………………… 81

5.3.1 Chemical Properties…………………………………………………………………………………. 81

5.3.2 Physical Properties………………………………………………………………………………….. 81

5.3.3 Mechanical Properties………………………………………………………………………………. 83

5.4 Biomass Raw Material Design and Network……………………………………………………………….. 84

5.4.1 Biomass Fibre Design………………………………………………………………………………. 84

5.4.2 Biomass Fibre Network…………………………………………………………………………….. 86

5.5 Current and Future Applications of Agricultural Biomass………………………………………………. 91

5.5.1 Future Potential of Biocomposite Industry………………………………………………………. 91

5.5.2 Value Chain of Biocomposite Industry…………………………………………………………… 92

5.6 Agricultural Biomass Raw Materials for Sustainable Economical Development………………………. 93

5.7 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 96

References………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 97

M. Siti Alwani • H. P.S. Abdul Khalil (*) • M. Asniza • A. S. Nur Amiranajwa School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia e-mail: akhalilhps@gmail. com

S. S. Suhaily

School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia Product Design Department, School of the Arts, Universiti Sains, Penang 11800, Malaysia M. Jawaid

Department of Biocomposite Technology, Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor 43400, Malaysia

Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

K. R. Hakeem et al. (eds.), Biomass and Bioenergy: Processing and Properties,

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-07641-6_5, © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014

Abstract Nowadays, the depletion of natural resources, growing population and raising environmental concerns have raised a tremendous interest in finding a sus­tainable alternative for creating new materials that are environmental friendly. Agricultural biomass is the plant residue left in the plantation field after harvesting. This lignocellulosic material possesses a composition, structure and properties that make them suitable to be used in various conventional and modern applications. This renewable plant waste is abundant, biodegradable, low cost and low density that could be a principal source for production of fibres, chemicals and other industrial products. The uses of these materials are not only limited to composite, paper and textile applications, but are also progressing immensely to many other unlimited applications such as medical, nano technology, biofuel and pharmaceutical. These expanding applications of agricultural biomass would not only help in reducing the environmental pollution but also provide an opportunity in developing renewable and sustainable material to be used in various advanced applications in the future. This would also help in generating employment and contributing to the improvement of people’s livelihood. The aim of this chapter is to discuss different types of agricul­tural biomasses with its present applications and future potentialities.

Keywords Agricultural biomass • Properties • Fibre design • Fibre network • Applications

5.1 Introduction

The widespread concern over increasing fossil fuel prices, global warming issues, environmental pollution and green house effects have stimulated a tremendous interest in the use of renewable materials that compatible with the environment. A way of addressing this sensitive issue could be through promoting the biomass from agricultural as an important alternative source for raw materials in the compo­sition of various products and applications.

Biomass such as agricultural crops is the largest of cellulose resource in the world. Approximately 2 x 1011 tons of lignocellulosics is produced annually com­pared to 1.5 x 108 tons of synthetic polymers (Pandey et al. 2010). Biomass is a clean source of energy as it releases carbon dioxide (CO2) as it burns but the gas released is recaptured by the growth of the same materials. This material considered as the most abundant waste after harvesting. After harvesting the fruit for food, most of the biomass is traditionally wasted for which it is normally left in the plantation field as organic fertilizer, mixed with the rejected fruits to make animal feed or is open-burnt. Utilization of these wastes could solve the disposal problem and reduce the cost of waste treatment (Goh et al. 2010).

Compared to glass fibre, biomass offers many advantages due to their unique characteristic such as low cost, low energy consumption, zero CO2 emission, low abrasive properties, low density, biodegradability, non-toxicity and their continuous availability (Guimaraes et al. 2009) . However, biomass fibres also have certain drawbacks especially when considering its application in composite. They have high moisture absorption and poor compatibility with polymer matrix which is responsible for poor mechanical and thermal properties. Modification or treatment of the fibre is needed to enhance the performance of biomass in different multiple applications (Pandey et al. 2010).

In the past few decades, the development of new materials that involve natural resources as the raw material, especially as a composite material, has accelerated. Nowadays, a large number of interesting applications are emerging for these materi­als due to recent progress in technological advances, biomass material development, genetic engineering, and composite science technology that offer significant oppor­tunities for an exploration and development of improved materials from renewable resources which can be used in various applications such as biocomposites, pulp and paper, construction, automotive, medical, packaging, aerospace, pharmaceuti­cal and biomass energy production (Lau et al. 2010).