“DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF
SANITARY PADS USING
SUGARCANE PULP”
Synopsis
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award
of
Bachelor of Technology
in
Mechanical Engineering
By
ARSHAD KHAN (1716440023)
AYUSH GUPTA (1716440033)
DEVANSH BAJPAI (1716440037)
FARZAN RAZA (1716440042)
Under the supervision of
Mr. LAXMI KANT MISHRA
Asst. Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Pranveer Singh Institute of Technology
Bhauti, NH-2 Kanpur
INTRODUCTION
The first disposable sanitary napkin, made of cotton and gauge, was put together in
1896. It was successfully commercialised in the United States of America in 1921.
As availability of material shrank, there was need to find a material which is easily
available and cost-effective. Later, wood pulp was incorporated since it is an
absorbent material from soft wood.
For time being there is an increase in the demand for improving the eco-friendly
nature of apparel products which is possible through recycling the waste products.
Bagasse is a one such sugarcane by-product which could be recycled to improve its
functionalities. Bagasse is considered as a rich natural resource when compared to
other agricultural residues because of its high yield and annual regeneration
capacity. In recent years, there has been an increasing trend towards more efficient
utilization of agro waste products.
To minimise the use of expensive synthetic polymers and fibres of
petrochemical and mineral origin cellulose-based natural fibres are used for
low-cost composite materials and use in textile fields to enhance many
needed properties such as tensile strength, drying rates ability, insect
resistance , and many other properties.
There is growing awareness about the environment protection and new
standards have been legislated and applied. There is a great interest in
developing sustainable and environmentally friendly systems through enhanced
performances. Utilising bio fibres from renewable resources not only
contributes to a healthy ecosystem, but also makes them economically
feasible for industrial application.
The objectives of this Project is to promote the use of bio-composites as
superabsorbent which gives maximum sustainable substances. Sugarcane
bagasse(Pulp) is a waste residue obtained after extraction of juice from
sugarcane. One ton of sugarcane generates 270 kg of sugarcane bagasse .The
utilization of sugarcane bagasse is still limited and is used mainly as a fuel
to power the sugar mill which causes pollution. So it is a challenge to
synthesize novel biodegradable substances using these waste materials.
RELEVANCE OF TOPIC
• The reproductive health status of a woman is greatly affected by the quality
of sanitary protection and the standard of hygiene maintained during
menstruation. In the lower economic strata women often practice the use of
old cloth rags as menstrual materials which are washed and reused several
times. These women often suffer from itching genitals or abnormal
discharge.
• Usage of Sanitary Napkin is extremely low in developing nations, resulting
in severe societal and health concerns like life threatening diseases, social
isolation and high levels of school drop-outs amongst adolescent girls.
Surveys reveal that usage of sanitary pads in India is around 12% (mostly in
the urban area). In rural areas this figure is as low as 2-3%. The situation is
similar/worse in other developing nations of South-East Asia and Africa.
• Though many types of sanitary napkins are available in the local markets,
their high cost profile and availability suits only the urban. Less than 7% of
the women of lower income group and those residing in the rural areas use
readymade disposable sanitary napkins.
• To encourage the poor women to use sanitary napkins it is important to
make them easily affordable and accessible for them. It has been seen that
availability of ample and affordable menstrual materials leads to not only
better hygienic practices by women and adolescents, but also to a radical
change in their concepts of dignity, relationships and aspirations.
• The purpose of this project is to ensure production of standardised, quality
assured, hygienic sanitary napkins by rural adolescents and women for
MHM, for improved health and quality of life of adolescent girls and women
and promotion of bio-degradable SN other than wood pulp.
ABSTRACT
• Sanitary napkin is a hygiene absorbent product used by women during
menstrual periods. It is a product of technical textile. The menstrual cycle
stars for young women between the ages 11-17, frequently around 12-13
years.
• The Indian tissue paper and hygiene product market is expected to grow
prominently until 2030. During this time, the market size will increase to
triple. Economic Researchers outcome that the strong demand mainly comes
from the increasing income of urban consumers and their pursuing of more
congenial and convenient lives.
• Suitability of the Bagasse fibres to be used for the absorbent hygiene
products were improved by enzymatic delignification process, which is the
removal of the structural polymer lignin from plant tissue to increase the
absorbency of the fiber which is the main requirement for sanitary napkins.
• These delignified fibres were still stiff and may not be suitable for
applications in hygiene products. So these fibres were converted into the
pulp form in order to increase their suitability. Pulp stage was found to give
a better performance than the fiber stage.
• The delignified bagasse fibres and pulp showed highest absorbency and
lowest lignin content when compared to the raw and cleaned stages. This
clearly shows that delignification using laccase enzyme can considerably
improve the suitability of bagasse for the absorbent hygiene products and
help in recycling bagasse to enhance its functionality.
• Bagasse is a one such sugarcane by-product which could be recycled to
improve its functionalities. The chemical composition of bagasse is
approximately 50% cellulose, 25% hemicellulose, and 25% lignin.
PROPOSED WORK METHODOLOGY
WITH SUPPORTING DIAGRAM
Sanitary Napkin unit consists of two machines:
1. Core forming machine:
The purpose of the machine is to compress the de-fibred pulp into a required
shape of the soft core of the napkin. It is a manual machine that does not
utilise even a single unit of power. The working principle of it is
compression and contraction.
2. Napkin finishing machine:
Formed Sugarcane pulp cores on the core forming machine are then wrapped
by a non woven fabric and is sealed by sensitive impulse sealing method.
The power requirement of 40 W.
Work Methodology
Pulp
Grinding
and Mat
formation
Tissue Spread and PE Film seal
embossing followed by adhesive
pasting. Sanitary pads
construction basically depends
on cutting of sheets and forming
layered structure for absorption.
Sterilizing the manufactured pad making it
hygienic for use, the sanitary pads are not ready
for use till they are sterilized because there are
chances of infection. The sugarcane pulp used is
highly absorbing material and thus they make an
excellent alternative for wood pulp.
REFERENCES
• AATCC Test Method 2004, (2005), ‘Fiber Analysis- Qualitative’, Technical
Manual of the AATCC, 80:38-54.
• Annual Book of ASTM Standards, (2002), ‘Stiffness of Fabric by Circular
Bend Method’, ASTM D 4032- 2001, Textiles II, 07.02.
• Annual Book of ASTM Standards, (2002), ‘Water Retention of Textile
Fibers (Centrifuge Method)’, ASTM D 2402- 2001, Textiles I, 07.01.
• Bacterial Analytical Manual (BAM), (2001), ‘Aerobic Plate Count’,Ch. 3.
• Bacterial Analytical Manual (BAM), (2001), ‘Yeast and Mould Count’,
Chapter 18.
• Indian Standards, ‘Methods of Determination of Length Parameters of
Cotton Fibers’, IS: 233 (Part I to IV) – 1978, Indian Standards Institution,
New Delhi.
• Indian Standards, ‘Methods of Determination of pH Value of Aqueous
Extracts of textile Materials’, IS: 1390-1961, Indian Standards Institution,
New Delhi.
• Sahoo PK, Swain SK, Debsarkar NL. Preparation, characterization, and
properties of unbleached, bleached, and grafted pulps Journal of Applied
Polymer Science 2002; 83: 1963-1969.
• Sahoo PK, Sahu GC, Mohapatra R. Biodegradability silicate composite
superabsorbents. Indian Journal Fibre and Textile Research 2005; 30: 157-
165.
• Rout S, Sahoo PK. Microwave-assisted synthesise of sugarcane bagasse
fibre based biocomposite (SCBF-g-PAM)/MMT. Applied science and
advanced materials international 2015; 2: 21-26.
Checked & Approved by:
Mr. LAXMI KANT MISHRA
Asst. Professor
ME, PSIT
