RETTING OF UNCONVENTIONAL BAST FIBRES : COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Plants are the primary source of natural textile fibres, with cotton being a significant cellulosic fibre used since ancient times.India, an agriculture-based country, can obtain textile fibre from underutilized plants or farm trash.Bast or stem fibres from plant stems contain significant cellulosic fibres, which can bring value to the textile industry and contribute to its sustainability.With cultivation unconventional plant sources in many regions worldwide has become an effective and acceptable approach to meet future fibre demands.Unconventional bast fibres are coarse in nature due to presence of high amount of lignin with cellulose.These fibres must be treated to eliminate impurities and enhance their appearance and spinning properties.This review study explored several retting processes, including dew, water, chemical, mechanical, enzymatic, and physical treatments.In this review paper, the existing retting practices of fibres extracted from unconventional plant sources such as okra, ashoka, cluster fig tree, China rose, marorphali, phalsa, cotton stalk, sugarcane bagasse, nettle and dhaincha are discussed.The physical properties and chemical composition of these fibres are also studied to compare the effect of retting processes.Water and dew retting are environmentally favourable; however they do not remove the noncellulosic component completely.Water retting along with enzymatic or chemical treatment provides good quality fibre suitable for various textile applications such as yarn spinning, weaving, nonwoven fabric production, handicrafts and composite development.Researchers are exploring various natural underutilized for extraction of textile fibres to ensure sustainable development.Therefore, this review study will be valuable for future researcher for processing of unconventional fibres.