Opportunity of Non-Wood Forest Products in Biocomposites

Abstract

In recent years industries are attempting to decrease their dependency on petroleum-based fuels and products due to increased environmental issues. The tremendous increase in production and use of plastics in every sector of life has led to huge plastic waste disposal problems and also an environmental threat. In order to prevail over the present scenario, the viable and cost-effective approaches are to prepare eco-friendly bio-composites based on non-wood forest products (NWFP), a part of forest wealth of the globe, especially natural fibres, agricultural wastes and extractives. Natural fibres and extractives have many advantages viz. low density, low cost, considerable toughness properties, nontoxicity, sustainability and biodegradability. NWFP based composites may be utilized to produce non-structural parts for diverse applications in various industries as high-performance materials with interesting properties for specific applications viz. furniture, thermal, acoustic insulations and automotive industries etc. In the present chapter, opportunities of extractives, cellulosic and lignocellulosic fibres from non-wood forest products in Bio-composites will be discussed.