Optimisation of alkali treatment of banana fibres on lignin removal

156-160<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: " times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:="" mangal;mso-ansi-language:en-gb;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:="" hi"="" lang="EN-GB">Alkali treatment of banana fibres has been used for lignin removal. The effects of various experimental parameters, such as alkali concentration, time and temperature, on lignin removal of banana fibres have been ascertained by response surface methodology using Box-Behnken design. The optimum conditions for lignin decomposition are identified as alkali concentration 11g/L, treatment time 150 min and temperature 90 ºC. The fibres treated under the optimum conditions are characterized based on chemical composition, diameter, density, moisture regain, strength, crystallinity and colour.