Stiffness and Strength-Related Sustainability Assessment of Natural Fibers for Injection Molded Composites
The growing demand for sustainable materials has led to an increased interest in bio-based composites reinforced with natural fibers such as flax, hemp, kenaf, and sisal. This study presents a comparative sustainability assessment of these fibers, highlighting significant differences based on proces...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Natural Fibers |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15440478.2025.2531372 |
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| author | Jan-Marten Sprenger Katharina Albrecht Nikolay Minkov Matthias Finkbeiner Lea Schönfeld Katharina V. Meyer Jörg Müssig |
| author_facet | Jan-Marten Sprenger Katharina Albrecht Nikolay Minkov Matthias Finkbeiner Lea Schönfeld Katharina V. Meyer Jörg Müssig |
| author_sort | Jan-Marten Sprenger |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The growing demand for sustainable materials has led to an increased interest in bio-based composites reinforced with natural fibers such as flax, hemp, kenaf, and sisal. This study presents a comparative sustainability assessment of these fibers, highlighting significant differences based on processing methods and fiber characteristics. Life cycle assessment (LCA) results show that flax tow, a by-product of textile flax production, has the lowest environmental impact under economic allocation. In contrast, the impact of sisal fiber varies greatly depending on the processing method: wet separation in Tanzania significantly increases water consumption and methane emissions, while dry extraction methods in Brazil reduce these impacts. An integrated tool has been developed to incorporate material performance metrics into sustainability assessments to improve sustainable material selection, addressing the “LCA paradox.” This property-specific assessment framework enables multidisciplinary collaboration and supports the development of environmentally optimized natural fiber composites for injection molding and other applications. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ec078367ba384dcfa9ec8796305312f0 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1544-0478 1544-046X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Natural Fibers |
| spelling | doaj-art-ec078367ba384dcfa9ec8796305312f02025-08-20T03:51:19ZengTaylor & Francis GroupJournal of Natural Fibers1544-04781544-046X2025-12-0122110.1080/15440478.2025.2531372Stiffness and Strength-Related Sustainability Assessment of Natural Fibers for Injection Molded CompositesJan-Marten Sprenger0Katharina Albrecht1Nikolay Minkov2Matthias Finkbeiner3Lea Schönfeld4Katharina V. Meyer5Jörg Müssig6The Biological Materials Group, Biomimetics, HSB – Hochschule Bremen, City University of Applied Sciences Bremen, Bremen, GermanyThe Biological Materials Group, Biomimetics, HSB – Hochschule Bremen, City University of Applied Sciences Bremen, Bremen, GermanySustainable Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin, Institute for Environmental Engineering, Berlin, GermanySustainable Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin, Institute for Environmental Engineering, Berlin, GermanyThe Biological Materials Group, Biomimetics, HSB – Hochschule Bremen, City University of Applied Sciences Bremen, Bremen, GermanyThe Biological Materials Group, Biomimetics, HSB – Hochschule Bremen, City University of Applied Sciences Bremen, Bremen, GermanyThe Biological Materials Group, Biomimetics, HSB – Hochschule Bremen, City University of Applied Sciences Bremen, Bremen, GermanyThe growing demand for sustainable materials has led to an increased interest in bio-based composites reinforced with natural fibers such as flax, hemp, kenaf, and sisal. This study presents a comparative sustainability assessment of these fibers, highlighting significant differences based on processing methods and fiber characteristics. Life cycle assessment (LCA) results show that flax tow, a by-product of textile flax production, has the lowest environmental impact under economic allocation. In contrast, the impact of sisal fiber varies greatly depending on the processing method: wet separation in Tanzania significantly increases water consumption and methane emissions, while dry extraction methods in Brazil reduce these impacts. An integrated tool has been developed to incorporate material performance metrics into sustainability assessments to improve sustainable material selection, addressing the “LCA paradox.” This property-specific assessment framework enables multidisciplinary collaboration and supports the development of environmentally optimized natural fiber composites for injection molding and other applications.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15440478.2025.2531372Natural fiber compositesLife Cycle AssessmentIntegrated approachSustainable developmentEco-designProperty-related LCA |
| spellingShingle | Jan-Marten Sprenger Katharina Albrecht Nikolay Minkov Matthias Finkbeiner Lea Schönfeld Katharina V. Meyer Jörg Müssig Stiffness and Strength-Related Sustainability Assessment of Natural Fibers for Injection Molded Composites Journal of Natural Fibers Natural fiber composites Life Cycle Assessment Integrated approach Sustainable development Eco-design Property-related LCA |
| title | Stiffness and Strength-Related Sustainability Assessment of Natural Fibers for Injection Molded Composites |
| title_full | Stiffness and Strength-Related Sustainability Assessment of Natural Fibers for Injection Molded Composites |
| title_fullStr | Stiffness and Strength-Related Sustainability Assessment of Natural Fibers for Injection Molded Composites |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stiffness and Strength-Related Sustainability Assessment of Natural Fibers for Injection Molded Composites |
| title_short | Stiffness and Strength-Related Sustainability Assessment of Natural Fibers for Injection Molded Composites |
| title_sort | stiffness and strength related sustainability assessment of natural fibers for injection molded composites |
| topic | Natural fiber composites Life Cycle Assessment Integrated approach Sustainable development Eco-design Property-related LCA |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15440478.2025.2531372 |
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