Tinctorial behaviour of curaua and banana fibers and dyeing wastewater treatment by porous alumina membranes

Abstract

The ecological benefits of renewable raw materials are clear: they save valuable resources, are environmentally sound and do not cause health problems [1]. Natural fibers have already established a track record in several different areas of engineering such as, civil, automobiles, architecture among others [2]. A continued search in the utilization of certain natural fibers that would be discarded to the environment, such as from the stem of the banana tree, makes further investigations to be carried out in order to add more value to these materials [3]. Curaua, another important natural substrate, is leaf fibers extracted from an Amazon-forest plant (Ananas erectifolius) that resembles a pineapple plant. Curaua fibers have low-cost of production and offer a relatively high tensile strength level. Even though these naturals fibers are well established, for example, as reinforce in composite materials, the dyeing properties of curaua and banana fibers are not well studied yet. Thus, the dyeing process of these materials was performed with reactive conventional dyes and, after that, the effluent obtained was treated with an advanced method using membrane filtration.