Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 2015, 5, 47-54 Published Online May 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/gsc http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/gsc.2015.52007 How to cite this paper: Adekunle, K.F. and Skrifvars, M. (2015) Processing of Lyocell Fiber Mat: An Alternative Renewable Reinforcement in Composite Manufacturing. Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 5, 47-54. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/gsc.2015.52007 Processing of Lyocell Fiber Mat: An Alternative Renewable Reinforcement in Composite Manufacturing Kayode Feyisetan Adekunle 1,2* , Mikael Skrifvars 2 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria 2 Polymer Group, School of Engineering, University of Boras, Boras, Sweden Email: * kayode.adekunle@hb.se , * k_adekunle@yahoo.co.uk Received 18 February 2015; accepted 7 April 2015; published 8 April 2015 Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract The carding of the Lyocell cellulose fiber was done with a cylindrical cross lap machine supplied by Cormatex Prato, Italy. Several mats were made by carding and needle punching in order to have a compact and well entangled mat suitable for reinforcement. The speed of the cross lap machine, the frequency of needle punching, the number of times the mat goes through needle punching, the feeding rate of the carded fiber and the depth of needle penetration determined the level of en- tanglement of the Lyocell fiber which ultimately increased the mechanical properties of the fiber. The good mechanical properties of the carded Lyocell fiber made it a renewable and environmen- tally friendly alternative as reinforcement in composite manufacturing. Compared with other jute fiber reinforced composites, the mechanical properties of the resulting Lyocell composites were found to be better. Regenerated cellulose fiber (Lyocell) composites were environmentally friendly and the mechanical properties were comparable to those of natural fibers. Keywords Cellulose Fiber, Environmentally Friendly, Lyocell Fiber, Composites, Mechanical Properties 1. Introduction Lyocell is a regenerated cellulose fiber derived from bleached wood pulp. Lyocell is obtained by a solvent spin- ning technique, using N-methylmorpholine N-oxide as the solvent. The spinning process is simpler and more environmentally sound than the Viscose spinning process, since it uses a solvent that is less toxic than the carbon * Corresponding author.