Characterization of Hemp Fiber Using Microwave-assisted Extraction(MAE) Pretreatment

摘要

The main objective of this paper was to investigate a low cost pretreatment method, namely microwave-assisted extraction(MAE) pretreatment, which could be applied to hemp degumming with low environmental impact. Degumming index, contrast of different pretreatment methods, transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and single fiber tensile testing were used to characterise the effect of pretreatment on hemp fibers. In this paper, the results of degumming effect were given comparing MAE pretreatment with acid pretreatment for hemp degumming. It was found that the MAE pretreatment could remove non-cellulosic compounds from hemp bundles effectively with very short period of time. Meanwhile, seen from SEM micrographs, the fibers pretreated by MAE were cleaner than that of fibers pretreated by acid. These results suggested that MAE pretreatment was higher efficiency and more environmental friendly than traditional pretreatment methods.