The Effect of Surface Modified Coir Geotextiles on Environmental Resources

Growing awareness on the environment has picked up momentum in the recent years. This has led the world towards the development of sustainable concepts and designs using locally available, natural materials. Natural fibers in the original as well as in the modified forms find immense applications in the field of engineering. Most of the surface modification compositions commonly adopted for the enhancement of fiber properties utilize harmful and expensive chemicals. This ultimately turns the fibers into potential source of leachates. The possibility of leachate formation and its effect on the environment need to be investigated in the case of surface-modified natural geotextiles. The effect of a newly devised surface modification formulation for coir geotextiles on the surrounding environment under various experimental conditions has been studied. The results of the study confirm that the coating is toxic-free and eco-friendly in terms of chemical concentrations and microbial growth. The promising results obtained from this study indicate the possibility of application of surface-modified geotextiles as a sustainable solution for a wide range of geotechnical engineering problems.