Trends in natural fibre production and its future

The use of natural plant fibres is a key improvement which contributes to the development of sustainable products and economical raw materials. Retting is a processing technique used to produce natural fibres and there are various retting techniques currently available such as water retting, dew retting, enzymatic retting, mechanical retting, chemical retting and physical retting. Each retting technique has its own advantages and disadvantages which will influence the quality of the fibres. The focus of this paper is to present a concise review on the retting techniques used for fibre production, with emphasis on bast plant fibres. The advantages and disadvantages of each retting technique are highlighted in terms of cost, fibre quality, retting time and production scale (large-scale or pilot-scale production). Based on comparative analysis of retting techniques, it is evident that water retting is attractive for natural fibre production due to its low cost and superior fibre quality and it can be implemented in large-scale production. On top of it, the benefits of water retting technique are somewhat negated by the fact that the technique requires high water consumption and long retting time of typically 14 - 28 days. Furthermore, the water retting technique produces putrid odour due to the anaerobic bacterial fermentation of the plants and causes pollution in neighbouring areas. However, the drawbacks of the water retting technique can be minimized by means of tank retting.