Pineapple waste idea bears fruit with drone design
BANGI: Malaysian researchers have developed a method to transform the fibre found in normally discarded pineapple leaves to make a strong material that can be used to build the frames for unmanned aircraft, or drones.
The project, headed by Prof Mohamed Thariq Hameed Sultan at Malaysia’s Putra University, has been trying to find sustainable uses for waste generated by pineapple farmers.
“We are transforming the leaf of the pineapple into a fibre that can be used for aerospace application, basically inventing a drone,” he said.
Drones made from the biocomposite material had a higher strengthtoweight ratio than those made from synthetic fibres, and were also cheaper and lighter, he said.
If the drone was damaged, the frame could be buried and would degrade within two weeks, he said.
Prototypes have flown to a height of about 1000m and stayed in the air for about 20 minutes, he said. — Reuters