Coir - a potential wood alternative

 

Coir – a potential wood alternative

By: Desislava Tzoneva , South Africa

Published: 7 Mar 08 - 0:00

 

Coir-promoting association, the Coir Institute, which has expressed interest in introducing and manufacturing coir products in South Africa, is undertaking a number of tests to determine the feasibility of coir as an alternative to wood, Coir Institute MD David Hoff tells Engineering News.

 

Although research and development of coir, used as a wood product, is still in the roll-out phase, a number of tests have already been conducted that will assess coir's applications in a number of industries in South Africa.

 

To this end, two shipments of coir have been imported to South Africa and a third is expected to arrive shortly. Both of the first shipments, containing cocopeat and geotextiles, have been given to agricultural suppliers and landscapers to test in South African soil as a means to either absorb or retain water.

 

Coir ply products will also be tested by mines in the industry as an alternative to timber, which is used for underground support structures.

 

Two tests have been completed and ongoing tests have yielded "very successful" results, says Hoff.

 

Coirply, which is derived from coconuts, is a made by combining coir fibre and phenolic resin. Although it is often mistaken for plywood and chipboard, it has a higher strength capacity than regular wood, owing to the high levels of lignon in coir fibre.

 

Coir offers an environment-friendly alternative to wood and timber and has a significantly smaller carbon footprint than many of the current processes used in timber manufacture. No trees are cut down to retrieve husk and fibre because only the coconut fruit is used in the pro- cess. Trees reach maturity in two years, and one coconut takes up to 45 days to ripen.

 

It is anticipated that coirply, which is fire retardant, pest and insect resistant, can be used in informal settlements for constructing low-cost housing.

 

Such houses made of coir have been established for residents affected by the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, India.

 

In these houses, coirply was used for every application, except the house frame, windows and foundations. Apart from building, painting, no further maintenance for the houses is required, says Hoff.

 

The Coir Institute is investigating the feasibility of a coconut plantation in the Eastern Cape to produce coconuts for coir.

 

It is expected that this will boost employment in the area as no technical skills are required to handle the coir process.

 

A Mpumalanga-situated coirply manufacturing plant is also being considered, and the feasibility of importing coconuts from Mozambique is being investigated.

 

A number of tests and studies are expected to be undertaken to determine the feasibility of this project.

Coir is a readily available raw material. India, which supplies 60% of the world's demand for coconuts, is one of 93 coconut supplying countries. India uses only 30% of its current coconut production capacity. "There's no worry that we will run out of raw material," comments Hoff.

 

The coir industry in Africa, however, is in its infancy, despite countries such as Nigeria, Mozambique and Somali growing coconuts. Mozambique, for instance, uses a small portion of its produce for coconut oil, but does not manufacture coir or coir-related products.

 

Coconut fibre is derived from a retting machine, which removes fibre from the nut, leaving a felt-like material behind. Husk or fibre is then matted together, after which resin is added to the mixture, which is compressed and heated into board and other products. The new mechanised process has helped speed up the time it takes to process husk, from a few months to a number of hours.

 

The mechanised manufacturing process also allows products to be moulded to specification before a final product is made, rather than waiting for a piece of board, which has to be shaped and cut to a required size.

 

Coir was traditionally removed from handpicked coconuts which were dehusked. The husk is then soaked in water and removed from the coconut by breaking and then drying it.

 

Coirply will not warp in rain or react to high temperatures, has acoustic properties and is used in rooms to either retain or reflect sound. The coir fibre can also be used in soundproofing.

 

Coirply is used in the manufacture of boats, housing and furniture, front doors, desks, boards, moulded doors and roofing, trays, bowls, cupboards, chairs and tables.

 

Besides other applications, coir is used in geotextiles for the rehabilitation of land, revegetation and stabilising land areas. As cocopeat, it is used as a soil enhancement product.

 

Edited by: Laura Tyrer