Long textile fibres from the midrib of date palm: Physiochemical, morphological, and mechanical properties

The objective of the present research was to extract long fibrillated textile fibres from the date palm midrib using a combined alkaline-mechanical process and study the effect of the extraction conditions on the physiochemical, morphological and mechanical properties. A total of 28 samples were prepared at different conditions and characterized using several techniques. The extraction process effectively fibrillated the coarse and hollow fibre vascular bundles into finer fibrils and reduced the fraction of surface impurities and increased the cellulose purity up to 69 % without causing fibre damage. The impurities removal and fibrillation were dependent on the severity of the alkaline treatment. The characteristics of the treated fibres were significantly improved; density up to 1.324 g/cm(3), thermal stability up to 226 degrees C, crystallinity index up to 58.4 % and tensile strength up to 453 MPa. The extracted midrib fibres have very good properties comparable to that of other annual fibres, considering their wide availability. To the best of our knowledge this is considered a novel successful attempt to extract long fibrillated textile fibres from the date palm midrib which can be further processed following a typical textile process chain. Which in turn may open the door for potential valorization of such underutilized resource.