Banana waste technology begins to bear fruit for Aussie company MANUFACTURING .......A publicly-listed company that has spent more than two decades perfecting its system of turning banana plantation waste into wood and paper products says it has proven the profitability of the technology and is preparing for a global expansion. .......
Andrew Spence https://theleadsouthaustralia.com.au/?p=41010 ...... Workers unload waste banana trees at the
factory in Egypt where it is turned into wood and paper products. Papyrus Australia, which is based in
Adelaide, South Australia, has watched its share price triple this month after announcing L39 as a cornerstone investor and reporting that its Egyptian factory has become profitable for the first time. ....... The company has developed technology to process banana waste into a range of products including veneer for furniture and musical instrument manufacture, moulded products such as food containers and plates, liquid fertiliser and garden peat. ....... It now aims to increase production in the Sohag factory, hire key staff and embark on a significant capital raise with the help of L39 Capital, which will allow it to manufacture ‘turn-key factories’ and sell them to banana plantations in developing countries around the world. .......
Papyrus Australia was founded in Adelaide in the mid-1990s after Ramy Azer moved to Australia with his Adelaide-born wife Phoebe to complete a Masters in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Adelaide. ....... He soon developed a technique for producing veneer from banana tree trunks and has since expanded the technology to include all parts of the waste banana plant. ....... “The question is always asked ‘what is an Adelaidean company doing in banana land’?” Azer, the company’s managing director said. ....... “But we are not banana processors, we are machine builders and technology makers so what the Adelaide company is actually doing is designing and building machines for export and commissioning in banana producing countries.” Unlike other fruit trees such as apples and oranges, a banana palm takes 6-8 months to grow to maturity, producing one large bunch. The tree is then cut down and left to rot and a new shoot is grown in its place. ....... Food containers made from the banana waste. ....... Generally grown in the tropics, bananas also fruit year-round and are not constrained by seasonality. ....... This creates a lot of waste but Azer said it also created a lot of opportunity as it provided a constant supply of fresh feedstock. .......
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of various kenaf fibre (KF) ratio as an additive: banana fibre (BF) reinforced concrete compared to normal concrete (NC) on the mechanical properties of the reinforced concrete. Thus, this paper will discuss the effect of fibres as the additives to reinforced concrete mixed. The properties included compressive strength and splitting tensile strength. The different ratio of KF1.4%: BF1.5%, KF1.6%: BF1.5% and KF1.8%: BF1.5% were used in this study. The results show that the strength was increased with the increasing of fibre additives, but they were not stiff compared to the normal concrete. While the splitting tensile strength increased when the content of fibre increased. The test data indicates that the addition of fibre will increase the mechanical properties of the concrete.
Keywords
Kenaf fibre Banana fibre Mechanical properties of concrete ..... LINK
"Renewable source, sustainable future
The Papyrus process uses a renewable, biodegradable, natural fibre source – banana tree trunk – that is fully sustainable and does not contribute to the destruction of natural or purpose-planted forests. It is a chemical free process that does not consume any chemicals or water during manufacturing.
Waste banana trunk, once converted through the patented Papyrus process, can be used as a natural replacement for single use plastic food packaging, bioplastic feedstock, in fertilizers, other agricultural products and in furniture, to name but a few. It can be put to use across a multitude of industries."
No comments:
Post a Comment