The consumption of water of green coconut in natura or industrialized has generated a large amount of residues that are disposed in landfills or in roadside. The husks residues correspond to around 85% of the weight of the fruit and present slow decomposition process. This environmental problem requires alternative solutions. In order to assessing to potential of the immature (green) coconut fibers to be used as reinforcement material in polymer matrices, the chemical composition, thermal and mechanical characteristics of the coconut fibers originated from 5 immature coconut cultivars of the Nana variety at 4 different ages were studied. According to the results obtained, the change of the chemical composition with the cultivar was from 37.2 ± 0.8% to 43.9±0.7% and from 7.4±0.5% to 31.5±0.1% for lignin and cellulose contents, respectively. The age did not significantly influence the chemical composition of 'Anão Verde de Jequi' (AVeJ) cultivar. All the cultivars and AVeJ, in different ages showed approximately the same thermal and mechanical behaviors, which were similar to the mature coconut fiber properties. This study shows that the immature cultivars studied offer potential to be used as reinforcement in composites similarly to mature coconut fiber.
Cocos nucifera; fruit characterization; immature coconut fiber; maturation point
