Kerala - Kochi   

New emulsion to soften coir fibre

K. A. Martin

`CCRI breakthrough can change the sector radically'

KOCHI: A new emulsion developed by the Central Coir Research Institute (CCRI) in Alappuzha to soften fibre from green coconut husk may well usher in major changes in the coir industry that now depends on the traditional method of retting fibre, a process that causes severe water pollution wherever retting is done.

The development promises a better future for the coir sector and it is capable of radically changing the industry, says Coir Board Chairman A. C. Jose.

The Board, he says, will take steps to popularise the use of the emulsion from castor oil, water and non-ionic detergent, stabilised by urea.

Fibre from green coconut husk is sprayed with the emulsion and is stored for 24 hours in a place where there is limited aeration so that it acquires the texture and colour for easy spinning and higher production.

The process eliminates pollution of water bodies, raises yarn production by about 25 per cent and prevents loss of fibre that is rampant in traditional retting, says Director of the CCRI U. S. Sarma.

The cost of using the spray is minimal considering the effect it has on the fibre and because it completely eliminates pollution, a problem that has forced the Kerala State Pollution Control Board to think in terms of alternatives to traditional retting. Dr. Sarma says that the cost of spraying the emulsion came to 35 paise for a kilo of fibre.

The Rs.500-crore coir export industry, employing over two lakh people, has come under pressure from environmentalists owing to the extent of the pollution of water bodies in the coir belt. Fisheries resources are the worst- hit as retting is now increasingly being done in stagnant waters.

Asked about possible controls on traditional retting, S. D. Jayaprasad, Member Secretary of the Pollution Control Board, told The Hindu that the new method had to be popularised and made acceptable in the coir sector.

The Regional Research Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram, has, at the instance of the Coir Board, developed a method of retting coconut fibre in fresh water in tanks or enclosures, says Mr. Jayaprasad. A pilot project will be launched soon.

In a bid to popularise the use of the new emulsion, the CCRI is holding demonstrations at various locations in the coir belt. At a recent display in Poochakkal, near Cherthala, coir yarn producers were happy with the results.

"The initial results are encouraging. The process has to be popularised and done on a large scale," says Pappachan Kunjarath, a manufacturer and supplier in Poochakkal, an area that has traditionally been the largest supplier of coir yarn.

The development of the new spray is a major achievement for the CCRI that has been on the vanguard of developing methods and processes to modernise extraction and processing of coir fibre.

The institute had earlier developed COIRRET, a bacterial cocktail for retting coconut husks in three months instead of the traditional nine months. Using it can bestow better quality to mechanically-extracted fibred in 72 hours.

The use of COIRRET also reduces pollution load by 70 per cent and cuts effluent treatment cost by 50 per cent. A pilot-scale laboratory has been established at the CCRI for production of COIRRET.

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