Agave Americana Fibres : Extraction, Characterization and Applications

The growing environmental problems, problem of waste disposal and the depletion of non-renewable resources have stimulated the use of green materials compatible with the environment to reduce environmental impacts. Therefore, there is a need of designing products by using natural resources. Natural fibres seem to be a good alternative since they are abundantly available and there are good number of possibilities of using all the components of the fibre yielding crop. One such fibre yielding plant is Agave Americana. Leaves of this plant yield fibres and all the parts of this plant can be utilizes in many applications. The "zero-waste" utilization of the plant would enable its production and processing to be translated into a viable and sustainable industry. These fibres are characterized by low density, high tenacity and moisture absorbency in comparison with other leaf fibres. These fibres are significantly long and biodegradable. Therefore we can look this fibre as one of the sustainable resource for manufacturing technical applications. Detailed discussion is carried out on extraction, characterization and applications Agave Americana fibres in this monograph.