Comprehensive utilization of residues of Magnolia officinalis based on fiber characteristics

The traditional Chinese medicinal plant Magnolia officinalis has a wide range of applications; including more than 200 kinds of patented Chinese medicines. Currently well-known application of Magnolia is to extract magnolol from its bark as a bulk drug. However, considerably large amount of residue is generated after the extraction process. Hence, it is crucial to find alternative waste management mechanisms for this biomass resource for the sake of environmental and economic benefits. In this study, Magnolia bark extract residues (MBER) were studied by Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses for natural fiber synthesis and its potential application for composite material production. The result revealed that prior extraction process has apparently cleaned the fiber surfaces and introduced more –OH groups. Applying the fiber characteristics, addition of 10–25% residue weight contents of MBER as the raw material was carried out, and their corresponding performance using biomass molding technology to prepare trash can products was compared and analyzed. In the end, it was found that the trash cans made by adding 20% MBER had certain performance advantages. Therefore, this study has provided a new use and method for the full utilization of Magnolia officinalis.