Background:
The flax plant (Linum usitatissimum L.) is one of the oldest crops known for its fibre and oil yield. Flax fibre, next to cotton and jute, is valued for its outstanding strength, fineness, and durability. Flax fibre is mostly utilized in the textile industry. Due to its good qualities, it is also used for high-quality paper used in currency notes and bond papers, etc. Despite the evolvement of the good number of varieties and standardization of agronomical practices of flax crop, flax fibre production in India is negligible, and domestic requirement of fibre is met by the import of raw flax fibre. The major reason is the non-availability of a suitable machine for fibre extraction.:
Technology Details:
“IMPROVED FLAX FIBRE EXTRACTOR” is a machine for higher capacity flax fibre extraction from retted and dried flax straws. The conveyor belt present at the inlet chute facilitates the continuous feeding of straw into the machine. The horizontal movement of flax straw in the machine facilitates uniform sutching due to adjustable spring-loaded bolts present on the upper scutching rollers. The more number of scutching points (7 nos.) in the machine improves fibre quality through breaking of straw into small pieces. The fibre outlet platform of the machine provides easy maneuverability of scutched fibre. The adjustable clearance between scutching rollers reduces fibre loss during operation. Two workers are required to operate the machine; one for feeding straw and the other for collecting the scutched fibre from the other side of the machine. The material capacity of the machine is about 75-80 kg flax straw per hour and it depends on the straw quality. The machine can extract flax straw of 1 ha area in 7-8 days. Very easy to use and no specific skill is required to operate or adjust the machine. The machine is very ideal for small as well as large flax growers. The machine can provide entrepreneurship development in natural fibre production and sale.