Jute processing steps

Jute fiber

Jute fiber is a long, soft, shiny best fiber that can be cut into thick, strong threads. It is mainly produced from the genus Corcharas. Jute is one of the most affordable natural fibers, and second only to cotton in quantity and variety used. Jute fibers are mainly composed of plant materials cellulose and lignin. It falls into the category of bust fiber along with kenaf, industrial hemp, flax (linen), ramie, etc. The industrial term for jute fiber is raw jute fibers white-brown and 1-4 m long. Jute is also called golden fiber for its color and high cash quality.

Jute

History of the jute industry in Bangladesh

The history of the jute industry in Bangladesh is long before. Initially, jute fiber was used to make textiles in the Indus Valley Civilization from the third millennium BC. For centuries, jute fiber has been an integral part of the culture of East Bengal and parts of West Bengal in southwestern Bangladesh. The British started the jute business in the seventeenth century. Jute fiber was also used in the military during the rule of the British Empire. British jute barons became rich by processing jute and selling products made from it. The Dundee Jute Barons and the British East India Company established many jute mills in Bengal and in 1855 the jute industry in Bengal surpassed the Scottish jute business. Many Scots emigrated to Bengal to set up jute factories. More than one billion jute sandbags were exported from Bengal to World War I trenches. It was used in fishing, construction, industry, and arms industry. Initially, due to its texture, it could only be processed by hand. No one in Dundee discovered that treatment with whale oil made it machine-processed. The industry spanned the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but the trade closed in the 1970s due to the rise of synthetic fibers. In the 21st century, jute has again become an important export crop worldwide, mainly in Bangladesh.

Features of jute fiber

1. Jute is the second most important vegetable fiber after cotton in terms of usage, global cost, production, and availability.

2. Jute has low pesticide and fertilizer needs.

3. It is a natural fiber with a golden and silky luster and hence it is called golden fiber.
4. It is the cheapest vegetable fiber procured from the bast or skin of the plant's stem.

5. It is 100% bio-degradable and recyclable and thus environmentally friendly.

6. It has high tensile strength, and low extensibility, and ensures better breathability of the fabric. Therefore, jute is very suitable for agricultural products in bulk packaging.

7. Advantages of jute include good insulating and antistatic properties,

8. Jute has poor drape ability and crease resistance, brittleness, fiber shedding, and yellowing in sunlight.

9. Jute has a decreased strength when wet, and also becomes subject to microbial attack in humid climates.

Properties of jute fiber


A. Physical properties of jute fiber-

1. Fiber length 1-4miters

2. Strength or tenacity 3-4gm/den

3. Elongation at break - 1.7%

4. Specific gravity - 1.5

5. Moisture Regain - 13.75%

6. Dimensional stability is good

7. Color- Brown, grey, yellow, white, off-white, golden, etc.

B. Chemical properties of jute fiber

1. Effects of Acid- Easily damaged by hot dilute acid and cold conc. Acid.

2. Effects of Alkali- Easily damaged by strong alkali.

3. Effects of Bleach- Resistant to all types of bleaching agents.

4. Effects of mildew- Prevention of mildew is better than cotton.

5. Dyeing ability- Easy to dye. Basically, the basic dye is used.

Chemical composition of jute fiber

Cellulose – 65.2%

Hemi-cellulose – 22.2%

Lignin – 10.8%

Water-soluble material – 1.5%

Fat and wax – 0.3%

Jute cultivation process

To increase jute, farmers spread seeds on cultivated soil. When the plants are around 15-20 cm tall, they are thinned. About four months after planting, the harvest begins. Trees are usually cut after flowering. The stalks are cut close to the ground. The stalks are tied in bundles and soaked in water for about 20 days. This process softens the tissues and breaks the hard pectin bond between the busts and allows the process to separate the fibers. It is then stripped from the stalk of the long strand and washed in clean, flowing water. They are then hung or spread on the roof to dry. After 2-3 days of drying, the fibers are bound in bundles.

Jute cultivation


The climate suitable for jute growth is a warm and humid climate, which is provided by the monsoon climate in the fall season immediately after the summer. Temperatures above 25˚ C and relative humidity of 70% -90% are favorable for successful cultivation. Additional requirement during jute sowing is 160-200 cm rainfall per week. River basins or waterlogged or loamy soils are best for jute cultivation. Cultivation of jute in red soil may require high doses of fertilizer and the best pH range of 4.8-5.6 is required for its cultivation. Ideal for plain or soft or lowland jute cultivation. As jute seeds are small in size, the land should be prepared for fines, which can be carefully tied to the land.

Types of jute

There are three types of jute, such as-
a. White jute
b. Tossa jute
c. Mesta jute

a. White jute

Corchorus capsular, commonly known as white jute, is a shrub species in the Malvaceae family. The plant originated in China but is now native to Bangladesh and India and has spread to many parts of tropical Africa. It is also cultivated in the Amazon region of Brazil. It is one of the sources of jute fiber, which is considered to be of better quality than the fiber obtained from the main source of jute, Corchorus olitorious. The leaves are used as food and the leaves, unripe fruits, and roots are used in traditional medicine.

b. Tossa jute

Tosa jute or Corchorus olitorious is a local thought in South Asia. It is developed for both fiber and culinary purposes. People use the leaves as an ingredient in a mucilaginous potherb called molokhia. Bangladesh and many other countries in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific commonly use jute for their fiber. Tosa jute fiber is soft, silky, and stronger than white jute. This variety shows good stability in the Ganges delta climate. In addition to white jute, the Tosa jute is also cultivated in Bengal where it has been known as jute since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Bangladesh is the largest global producer of different varieties of Tosa jute.

c. Mesta Jute

Mesta jute is a hybrid of white jute and tosa jute. Although this type of jute was not historically popular historically, the political complexities of India's turbulent independence made the production of this type of jute paramount.

Different defects/faults in jute fiber


Rooty Jute: This problem occurs due to improper retting underwater. These faults see on the root end area in jute.

Specky jute: These defects occur due to insufficient washing which causes the outer barks to adhere to some places. Speck in jute is a major defect that lowers the quality of Jute fibers.

Dazed fibers: These defects see on jute fiber due to over-retting in water, for this reason, jute fiber loses strength and luster and becomes bad for spinning.

Runners: Runner is a defect where a long and hard barky ribbon of fibers remains in jute fiber.

Hunka: Hunka is a jute defect, for this reason, jute show hard and barky.

Mossy jute: Fibres from short plants that cannot be properly steeped and cleaned contain broken pieces of jute sticks etc.

Croppy Jute: This defect is shown on the top end of the fiber. For this reason, the top end of the fiber becomes rough and hard. These defects usually occur due to careless steeping.

Knotty jute: This type of defect in jute fibers is caused by insect bites or punctures.

Flabby or hairy jute: These defects occur due to careless stripping, fiber loses firmness, and becomes flabby and hairy.

Heart damage: These defects occur when jute fiber contains excess moisture in baled and the bale center becomes badly tendered in some cases, fibers are reduced to powder.

Jute spinning process

The main function of jute spinning units is to convert jute fiber into yarn for various end uses. The type of jute yarn that is made can be classified according to the application/use such as fine yarn, hessian yarn, carpet, sacking yarn, etc. various, etc. according to on the need and use. By conventional technique, it is not possible to produce fine jute yarn with more than 138 texts. However, later, after the development of the apron draft ring spinning system, it was easier to produce yarn as fine as 60 tex.

The processing sequence in jute spinning is-

1. Jute selection 

After drying, the raw jute is packed in jellies in the form of 150 kg or 180 kg bells for easy movement. The bells from the mill godown are taken to the selection department where all the jute bells are opened to search for any jute and to remove the defective part from the bend by experienced workers. After selection, the jute boundaries are driven by workers in the softening/batching department.

2. Batching section

Batching is the process of mixing oil and water in jute. A batch is a mixture of fibers with different types of jute fibers for a particular class of yarn. The section where jute is prepared for carding is called batching house. In this section, the fibers are conditioned for easy processing in the resulting processes by adding oil and water. The ready-to-pick wrap is processed with a softener or spreader machine to fit the jute fiber bundles for subsequent carding operations. As it passes through these machines, the oil in the water mixture is applied to the jute for its moisture or lubrication.

3. Batching emulsion recipe

Jute batching emulsion usually consists of three products such as mineral oil, water, and an emulsifier. The most commonly used mineral oil is Jute Batching Oil (JBO), a medium distillate produced by petroleum refiners. JBO lubricates the fiber and makes it flexible. Water provides adequate moisture to the fiber and increases its extensibility. The emulsifier reduces the surface tension and stabilizes the emulsion.

Solution recipe-

  Water = 20 - 30%

Jute batching oil = 2 - 5%


Emulsifying agent = 0.1 - 0.5%.

4. Softener process

The softener machine is used for batching of sucking yarns, its raw materials are low grade. It is a long machine consisting of 4 - 2 pairs of cast iron curved rollers. The lower part of the pair is driven by the side shaft and the top is the spring-loaded one by contacting the bottom of the pair. Long jute is conditioned 24 - 48 hours after softening and then ready to feed on the breaker card.

5. Carding process

The main objectives of jute carding are-

1. Dividing the jute root longitudinal and breaking it transversely.

2. Converting jute ghats into uniform fibrous strands, suitable for further processing

3. Some amount of fiber is clean, orienting, and attenuating.

4. Randomize the fibers among themselves.


Two types of carding machines are commonly used in jute processing, namely breaker card and finisher card and both roller and clear type.

6. Drafting process 

The main objectives of the jute drawing frame are-

1. Drafting finisher card slivers to make the spinning frame suitable for feeding.

2. Doubling the slivers to reduce irregularities.

3. Straighten and align the scales along the sleeve axis.


Jute drawing frames are divided into two types, according to the process of follar bars. Such as- push bar type and spiral or screw gill type.

7. Jute spinning

Most of the jute yarn is cut from the finisher drawing sliver and the spinning from the rove is basically limited to the finer range. Nowadays, however, most ring spinning is used for fine counting yarn directly from the sliver. The jute spinning frame is designated by the pitch distance between adjacent spindles. The main objectives of the spinning process are to draft, twist, and rotate.

Jute yarn

a. Drafting

In the case of yarn making, the process of reducing the assembly of fibers called sliver by flowing through different rollers thus straightening the individual fibers and making them more parallel is called drafting. Each pair of rollers moved faster than before.

b. Twisting

In the production of yarn and rope, the process by which fibers or yarns are tied together in an uninterrupted strand, performed in spinning or playing operations is called twisting. The twisting side can be on the right, described as a Z twist, or on the left, described as an S twist.

c. Winding

The process of making large yarn packages like the cone from different small yarn packages like ring cops using subsequent machinery is called winding. The winding process not only creates larger yarn packages, but also corrects spinning errors such as naps, hairiness, and wax.

Weaving process

The process of separating two series of thread warp and waffle yarn to produce a fabric of the desired quality is called weaving. The weaving department has separate looms for hessian and dismissal. Hessian loom, the shuttle whose materials (weft yarn) have been changed manually. The sacking looms are equipped with an eco-loader to automatically load polish into the shuttle.

Jute product

Damping

The process is damp, where the rolled woven fabric is uncontrolled and water is constantly sprinkled on it to provide the desired moisture. Each roll is typically 104 yards or 95.976 meters. This is done manually.

Calendaring

The process is similar to dressing calendaring fabric. Damp fabric renders the thread into the fabric through heavy roller pairs to expand and improve quality and appearance.

Advantages of jute fiber

1. For this purpose, jute matting is used to prevent flood erosion, and natural and biodegradable fibers are required.

2. It is mainly used for wrapping raw cotton yarn and for making sacks and thick cloth. The fibers are woven into the backing for curtains, chair covers, carpets, area rugs, hessian fabrics, and linoleum.

3. In many of its uses, it is being replaced by synthetic materials, some uses have taken advantage of the biodegradable nature of jute, where synthetics are unsuitable.

4. Jute fibers are used alone or mixed with other types of fibers to make needles and ropes. Jute butts, and thick edges of trees, are used to make cheap clothing.

5. The main breakthrough came when the automobile, pulp and paper, and furniture and bedding industries began using jute and related fibers with their non-woven and blended technologies in non-woven, technological textiles, and blends.

6. Jute is used to make a number of fabrics such as hessian fabrics, sacking, creams, carpet backing fabrics (CBC), and canvas.

7. Jute as a home textile has many advantages, either replacing cotton or blending it because of its strength, durability, color, and light fiber. Its UV protection, sound, thermal insulation, low thermal conductivity, and anti-static properties make it an intelligent choice in home decor.

8. Jute is also used to make membrane suits, which are used as fungi and are similar to grass or brushes.

Disadvantages of jute fiber

1. Crease resistance of jute fiber is very low.

2. Drape property is not good enough.

3. Shade becomes yellowish if sunlight is used.

4. When jute is wetted, loses its strength.

5. The jute is not so flexible.

6. Jute has no brightness.













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