Prof. Dr. Ir Soeprijanto MSc (center in red batik) with the ITS KKN Abmas team when visiting the location of a pineapple plantation in Satak Village, Puncu District, Kediri Regency

ITS Campus News – Satak Village is a potential pineapple producing village in Kediri Regency. To optimize the abundance of pineapple production and add added value to processed pineapple products in Satak Village, the Community Service and Community Service Study Program (KKN Abmas) of the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) introduced the use of pineapple leaf fiber into yarn for raw materials for the creative craft industry.

The supervisor of the ITS KKN Abmas team Prof. Dr. Ir Soeprijanto MSc explained, the reason for choosing pineapple leaves as a raw material was that processed products from pineapple were not utilized properly. To add economic value to pineapple products apart from the fruit, the ITS team developed a technology to convert fiber from pineapple leaves into yarn. “The economic value of the product produced will be many times more than when selling it unprocessed,” he added.

KKN Abmas ITS Team tested a machine for processing pineapple leaf fiber into yarn for textile products in front of the Satak Village Office, Kediri Regency

Soeprijanto added, the yarn produced from pineapple fiber can be used as raw material for making bags, mosquito nets and other textile products. This, according to him, can certainly improve the economy of Satak Village. The reason is, so far pineapple leaves are only considered as crop residues that are used as animal feed.

This activity is a continuation of abmas which was also carried out in Satak Village in early 2022. Soeprijanto revealed, in the first period, abmas aimed to produce crude fiber from pineapple leaves using a mechanical extractor. In the second abmas period, the coarse fibers are developed into fine fibers using a degumming tool and then cut with a cutting tool.

KKN Abmas ITS team introduced the technology for making yarn from pineapple leaf fibers

The Professor of Industrial Biotechnology Laboratory, Industrial Chemical Engineering Department ITS explains that the results of processing into fine fibers are then processed into composite materials. During the abmas activities for this period, the fiber was processed into even finer fibers so that they became yarn that could be used as raw material for textile products.

As a follow-up to abmas activities, Soeprijanto said, the team will continue to provide guidance to the Karang Taruna of Satak Village and farmer community groups so that activities can run in a sustainable manner. He hopes that the people of Satak Village can have creativity to develop the pineapple product into something with higher economic value. “The community can develop the manufacture of ropes as window netting, bags, clothes, and so on,” he concluded. (ITS PR)