Plant Fibres

Question 1

Uses for plant fibres

Answer 1

Clothing, rope, sacking, matting, paper

Question 2

What are plant fibres

Answer 2

A thread/filament from plants which is used to form textiles

Question 3

What is sustainability

Answer 3

Using resources in a way that meets the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs

Question 4

Why are plant fibres used

Answer 4

-easy to grow in large numbers and are renewable
-reduces the use of crude oil as fibres can be used to make plastics
-have lots of different properties such as being strong/flexible/resistant to decay/waterproof/cheaply extracted

Question 5

Examples of plant fibres used

Answer 5

Bioplastics are plastics from plant starch, bioethanol is fuel from starch

Question 6

How are plant fibres extracted

Answer 6

-plants must be taken apart by pulling out fibres/digesting surrounding tissues
-cellulose and lignin resist chemical degradation whilst polysaccharides holding them together are dissolved
-the more lignin the more difficult it is to separate the fibres
-caustic alkali is used to get fibres pulp from trees/other plants are piled in heaped so bacteria break them down or soaked in water (retting)