Pineapple and Banana fiber Extraction Unit

Farmdo India Pvt Ltd has established an integrated technical and commercial collaboration with Canvaloop to channel premium market access for an innovative product – textile-grade fibre derived from pineapple skins and leaves. Leveraging Farmdo’s strengths in sustainable agri-waste aggregation and value-chain management, this partnership ensures a steady, quality-assured supply of raw pineapple biomass to Canvaloop. Canvaloop, a pioneering Indian textile technology enterprise, transforms this agricultural residue into high-value yarn and fibre through proprietary, eco-friendly chemo-mechanical processes. The joint approach not only minimizes water use, energy consumption, and carbon emissions, but also creates a circular economy model that repurposes farm waste, enhances farmer incomes, and delivers sustainable, scalable textile solutions for domestic and global markets.

Core Process Steps

1. Collection & Preparation

   • Pineapple skins and leaves are collected after harvest, preventing waste from being burnt and maximizing resource use.

   • Farmers use simple crushing/separation machinery provided by Canvaloop to prepare the agri-waste for transport to the factory.

2. Chemo-Mechanical Processing

   • The waste undergoes a proprietary chemo-mechanical process at the factory.

     • Chemical pretreatment: Softens the fibres and removes unwanted components (lignin, pectin, wax, etc.).

     • Mechanical treatment: Physically further breaks down the fibres and aligns them for spinning into textile-grade material.

     • Enzymatic treatment: Used for additional softening and refining; improves texture and feel.

3. Closed-Loop & Sustainable Operations

   • The process is closed-loop: no solvents, recycled water, and heat from bio-waste. This makes it highly resource-efficient—typically using less than 10l water/kg of fibre (vs 9,000l/kg for cotton).

   • All waste generated within the facility is recycled or repurposed.

4. Fibre Extraction and “Cottonization”

   • Fibres are cut and pre-treated to reduce coarseness and mimic the properties of cotton.

   • This enables spinning on conventional cotton machinery, eliminating need for new infrastructure and making adoption easy for existing textile manufacturers.

5. Yarn Spinning and Blending

   • The processed fibre is spun into yarn or blended with other fibres (cotton, modal, tencel) depending on the desired product characteristics.

   • The end product is textile-grade yarn suitable for garments, home textiles, and even eco-leather (Pinatex).

Technical Features & Benefits

• Minimal Water Use: <10l per kg fibre

• Climate-light footprint: Significantly lower carbon and energy use than cotton or synthetic fibres

• No toxic chemicals/solvents

• End-product qualities:

  • Breathable, anti-microbial, anti-UV, durable, and gets softer with washes

  • High tensile strength and dyeability

• Scalable capacity: Canvaloop processes up to 40 tonnes/month/agri-waste with existing lines