Arreca Nut fibres
Botanical Information
- Areca catechu is a palm species that belongs to the family Arecaceae and is commonly known as the betel nut.
- It is an extremely high potential, perennial, monocotyledonous species having properties of an angiosperm.
- It is native to the Philippines but is mainly grown in the tropical regions of the Pacific, Asia, and some parts of East Africa.
- Countries like Taiwan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and other tropical countries are the main cultivators of the palm tree
Agroclimatic Conditions for Cultivation
- To ensure a well deep root system, the soil for cultivation should be deep with high organic carbon content.
- Laterite, red loamy, and alluvial soils are most suited for the cultivation of areca nut.
- The pH range of soil should lie between acidic to neutral.
- It requires evenly distributed rainfall with mean annual rainfall of 750-4500mm.
- It proliferates in the tropical regions with temperatures around 150C – 390C.
- The lifespan of the palm tree continues for 100 years, and fruiting for around 30-60 years.
- Statistics shows that the annual world production of areca nuts is 1,073,000, and approximately 2.5 g of areca husk could be extracted from every areca betel nut.
- In India, 90% of cultivation is contributed by Karnataka, Kerala, and Assam states.
Name in different regional languages
English: Betelnut palm, Areca nut, Betel palm
Spanish: Palma catechou
Betel-nut, Supari palm, Pinang palm.
Hindi: Supari
Filipino: Bunga
Sanskrit: Poogiphalam
French: Arec cachou, Arequier
Tamil: Kamugu
German: Areca palme, Betelnut palme
Telugu: Tamalapaku
Italian: Avellana d’India
Kannada: Adike
Thai: Maak mia
Marathi: Supari
Sinhala: Puwak
Malay: Adakka-maram, Kavugu
Trade name: Areca nut, Betel nut
Vietnamese: Cao
Chart 1 Name of areca nut plant in different regional languages
Features
- It is an eco-friendly fibre as it is biodegradable, renewable and can be recycled.
- It shows good tensile and elongation properties and is water absorbent.
- The coarse betel nut fibres holds good specific mechanical strength and has excellent toughness.
- The raw betel nut fibre has the highest fibre length.
- Fibres are rough, brittle, and stiffer due to the presence of lignin.
- The strength and fineness of the fibre is similar to cotton .
- It is lightweight, stringy and has high strength to width ratio.
Table 1. Physical & mechanical properties and chemical composition of areca nut fibres
Physical & Mechanical properties
Length Short
18-29mm
Medium
30-38mm
Long
39-46mm
Diameter
0.28-0.89 mm
Elongation at break
15±3%
Elongation
1.6%
Chemical composition
Alpha cellulose
53.20%
Hemi cellulose
30-64%
Lignin
7-24.8%
Ash
4.4 – 4.8%
Pectin and wax
A negligible percentage
Uses
- It is used to make thick boards, pressed boards, fluffy cushions, and nonwoven fabrics.
- It is also used to make paper by blending areca nut and bamboo/banana pseudo stem pulp.
- It can be used to make composites with different materials to enhance the usage of this fibre.
- The composites made up of areca nut fibre and epoxy can be used for marine applications, electrical, insulating components, lightweight components, automobile industry and chemical industry.
- It is used as a building material in villages and throughout southeast Asia it is used for different construction purpose.
