LAUSR

Abstract Bast fibers, renewable resources used as reinforcement to develop sustainable products, are extracted from plant stalk in a process called decortication. Proper selection of critical parameters affecting decorticators’ performance is required for optimization of the process. An analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was developed, according to expert feedback and experimental tests, to identify the most influential parameters affecting mechanical extraction of bast fibers. The experimental tests were done using a research-scale decorticator to find the relationship among the factors determining the quantity and quality of the fibers, and the influencing parameters. The potential inflectional parameters identified by experts were retting condition of the stalks, feed size, the number of passes through the rollers and finisher of the decorticator, 3-comb and 6-comb shaker, and stalk diameter variation. The results of the AHP model demonstrated that among seven potential parameters, the retting condition of the stalks was the most effective parameter constituting 20.4% of the total, followed by the proportion of the number of pass of stalks through the rollers (19.4%), and the feed size (18.3%). In contrast, stalk diameter variation and 3-comb shaker had the least effect on the quality and quantity of the fibers (4.4% and 10.7%, respectively).