Hayley's new extractor, a boon to local fibre industry

A locally-designed and fabricated semi-automated fibre processing mill that integrates several stages of the process of extracting fibre from coconut husks was commissioned in Sri Lanka, enhancing efficiency, product quality, safety and earning potential.

Researched, developed and fabricated by Engineer A. P. S. Luxman Wijesinghe, the new machine has been installed at a fibre mill at Nattandiya. Hayleys Group's Fibre sector subsidiary, Ravi Industries, supported its inventor by purchasing and leasing the machine.

Minister Jagath Pushpakumara at the controls of the new machine. The machine in operation and Minister Jagath Pushpakumara presenting Engineer Luxman Wijesinghe with a plaque in appreciation of his invention.

The Hayleys Group's Fibre sector will support the manufacture and roll-out of the machine for the benefit of the local fibre industry, by purchasing five machines and leasing them to fibre suppliers.

Commenting on this milestone development for the coir products industry, Head of the Fibre sector of Hayleys Prasanna de Silva said: "As a business group that had its origins in value addition to coir 133 years ago, Hayleys and its Fibre sector companies have played a pioneering and enduring role in the development and mechanisation of the industry.

The latest innovation, which enhances incomes and working conditions of fibre industry employees, and improves the quality of their output, is further evidence of the Group's commitment to the industry."

Chief Executive Officer of Ravi Industries Limited, Anuruddha Dias said the company had undertaken to promote the machine as a community project under the aegis of the Ravi Foundation for Community Development because it addresses several serious issues facing the bristle fibre industry, including the scarcity and high cost of bristle fibre, the inferior quality of fibre extracted by existing machines and the lack of skilled labour due to safety concerns associated with the operation of traditional hand-fed fibre extractors.

Designed to be operated by semi-skilled personnel, the machine has an automated conveyor type husk feeding mechanism and a secondary cleaning process that reduces labour hours, extraction costs and improves the quality of the bristle fibre, he said.

In the manual fibre extraction process still prevalent in some areas, coconuts are husked by hand or split open with machetes, retted in fresh water tanks or in wet soil, beaten on stone with wooden bars or pounded with mallets, spread in the sun to dry and are beaten again with long sticks to separate the fibres from husk particles.

The traditional fibre extracting machine known as 'Petti Kuttama' requires the husks to be fed by hand to the spikes on a spinning wheel, a process that carries a high risk of injury to the operator's fingers.

Working the new machine for eight hours a day, a fibre supplier can extract fibre from 6000 husks, generating an income of Rs 1.2 m for a month of 25 working days, and a minimum profit of Rs 250,000 a month after raw material, electricity, maintenance, consumables and labour costs, the studies have shown.

The cost of the machine is between Rs 2.5 - 3 m.

Coconut coir fibre is relatively water-proof and is the only natural fibre resistant to damage by salt water and microbial degradation.

It is used in the manufacture of floor mats, mattresses, ropes, brushes, brooms, nets and carpets.