Lincoln, Nebraska
March 16, 2004
By Linda Ulrich
Nebraska University Institute
of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) News Service
Red sweaters abound in Big Red country but Yiqi Yang's is unique
-- it's made of cornhusks.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln textile scientist hopes many
people someday will wear clothing made from the husks of
Nebraska's largest crop.
Yang has developed a process to convert the cellulose in
cornhusks into textile fibers, which can be made into yarn and
woven into fabric. The university is patenting his invention,
which he hopes will be commercialized.
"This research is still in the initial stages but it shows us it
has great potential to be successful. Based on our very initial
work, it will be a good performance textile fiber of the highest
quality," Yang said.
His method uses basic chemistry to extract cellulose fibers and
purify them. While still under development, this technique is
inexpensive and efficient.
Initially, Yang could only extract short fibers, which are not
useful for textile yarn. After figuring out to how make fiber
bundles of sufficient size, the fibers were spun into yarn at a
USDA research spinning facility in South Carolina. Cellulose,
the main constituent of all plant tissues and fibers, is the
polymer in cotton, linen and rayon.
Anyone who has been around cornhusks might imagine an itchy
fabric but, Yang said, it's quite the opposite. Since cornhusk
fiber is natural, it's more comfortable than many synthetics.
Other pluses: husk fibers are made from a renewable resource and
the husk yarn is off-white, which is an attractive neutral color
and also easy to dye, Yang said.
"My interest is corn byproducts and I'm interested in using my
application to help farmers. It is a natural match to use husks,
a material that has limited value, to make clothing and to
increase corn's value for our farmers, our state and the world,"
the College of Education and Human Sciences scientist said.
The United States produces about 20 million tons of cornhusks
annually. Yang estimates that at least 2 million tons of fibers,
worth about $2 billion, could be extracted from these husks each
year.
For this Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources
research, Yang used husks from Nebraska cornfields, university
test plots and sweet corn husks from local grocery stores. All
are excellent for fiber production. Modified combines could
easily collect husks while harvesting corn, he said.
The number of husks needed to make a yard of fabric depends on
the fabric's width and weight. About three pounds of cornhusks
are needed to make the fiber for an average T-shirt, which
weighs about 150 grams.
"The textile industry is a huge market so if we can find an
application in textiles, we don't have to worry about finding a
market. Just one application could have a big impact on
agriculture," Yang said.
One of the advantages of corn as a raw material for textiles is
that it requires fewer chemicals to grow than cotton or linen
plants, which are the primary sources of U.S. fabric fibers.
Using corn for textile fibers as well as food also is a more
efficient use of cropland, which could be even more important in
countries with limited agricultural land, Yang said.
In addition to clothing, he thinks cornhusk fibers could have
other uses such as packing and wrapping materials, fiber
composite materials and industrial fabrics.
"The husk is the strongest part of the corn plant. Nature did
that to protect the seeds. It makes sense to use it for
high-strength applications," he said.
Although Yang is pleased with the fibers and yarn he has
produced, he said, "This is still in the conception stage and
there is a lot of work waiting for us to develop it as a true
textile fiber."
For the next step in this research, Yang is seeking about $2
million in funding or investment to develop a pilot plant that
can produce at least 2,000 pounds of fiber daily from Nebraska's
corn stover.
This Department of Textiles, Clothing and Design research is
conducted in cooperation with IANR's Agricultural Research
Division.
This story is from the
spring/summer issue of Research Nebraska magazine, which is
published twice annually by the University of Nebraska's
Agricultural Research Division in the Institute of Agriculture
and Natural Resources. |