Development of wet-laid nonwoven from pineapple leaf fibre for sustainable flushable wipes

This research aims to explore a sustainable way of utilizing pineapple leaf fibres (PALF) to develop flushable wipes with a higher disintegration percentage. The suitable fibre extraction method has been determined, and the extracted PALF is subjected to steam-explosion using a sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution with varying NaOH concentration, pressure, and time. Flushable wipes are manufactured using the wet-laid nonwoven technique from steam-exploded pineapple leaf microfibres. From SEM analysis, it is observed that the fibre bundles are separated into individual micro-sized fibres (3–4 μm) after steam explosion. The effect of process parameters in steam explosion treatment on disintegration percentage with respect to shaking speed and time has been explored and then compared with commercial products. The result indicates that the micro-fibres obtained by steam explosion of PALF with 1.5% NaOH at 25 psi for 60 min demonstrate excellent flushability properties (~96.67% disintegration), which exceeds the commercial product by 27.62%. This suggests a potential to meet the EDANA/INDA flushability standards, making it a viable good flushable wipe that won't cause drainage clog. This research concludes that the steam-exploded PALF is found to be beneficial in the hygiene and health care segments for the production of emerging and essential flushable wipes, taking advantage of its unique property of fibrillation on steam explosion.