Surface Treatment on Cellulose Fibres Produced from Natural Plants: A Review

Increasing requirement for sustainable resources in a variety of applications, considerable attempts have been made to create lightweight, biodegradable, and renewable composites that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are all plant fibers and share certain characteristics, including the fact that they all produce highly nutritious seeds and have lengthy, durable fibers. Natural fibers reinforced with biopolymers obtained from either plant or animal sources have been recycled since ancient times to meet eco-friendly social needs such as clothing, handicrafts, composites, carrier bags, biodynamic agriculture, automotive, and textiles. Because of the extensive use of synthetic fibers, the use of natural fibers has declined substantially since the turn of the century. Natural Plant-based fibers include nettle, hemp, flax, cotton, coir, jute, kenaf, sisal, pineapple, banana, bamboo, etc. Natural plant fibers are mostly made of cellulose, which can be found in hillsides, former plantations, and wastelands. The fiber surface treatment (retting) process enhances the dissolution of the components that hold fibers together (primarily pectin, hemicelluloses, and lignin), which is a prerequisite for getting fibers suitable for use in the textile industry. Water, dew, chemical, and enzymatic retting procedures were used to remove natural fibers from raw materials. This paper proposes different categories of ecological surface treatment for natural fiber biodegradability, an approach aimed at promoting high-value-added natural products. The chemical retting method pollutes the environment and causes skin problems that affect human health, so we review the natural methods of surface treatment like fungi, bacteria, and enzymes.