Caracterización fisicoquímica y funcionalidad tecnológica de la fibra de piña (Ananas Comosus), cultivada en la vereda Acapulco- Girón (Santander)

Abstract

The fiber of the pineapple plant is a biopolymer composed mostly of lignocellulosic material. The biodegradation of this material in its natural environment causes a great problem for farmers, since it takes 8 to 13 months to decompose and causes a delay in the production of this crop, so that growers choose to apply agrochemicals that cause damage. environmental conditions such as the contamination of water sources or generate massive burns of this biomass to accelerate this process. Considering the above, this degree work was proposed to study the possible technological functionality of the natural fiber obtained from the pineapple in the varieties oro miel and perolera, for which the method of manual extraction and shredding machine was evaluated, the latter being that of better performance. A yield of 1.9% was obtained for the gold honey variety and 3.8% for the perolera. Regarding its chemical composition, it was determined that the fibers of the pineapple leaf are mainly made up of 85% holocellulose (67% corresponds to α-cellulose and 8% lignin). By means of the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) technique, its morphology was established, which showed bundles of compact fibers with an approximate thickness of 160 - 170 micrometers for the honey gold variety and 60 - 70 micrometers for the perolera variety. The mechanical properties of the fibers obtained were studied, such as tension, maximum force, and deformation. The perolera variety presented a tension of 198.944 MPa, a maximum force of 25 N, and a strain of 0.74 mm.