Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest producer and the top exporter of jute. The “golden fiber” is so abundant here that, in rural regions, piles of dried jute sticks are commonly burned as cooking fuel or used as low-cost fencing. Scientists have now found a way for this agricultural waste to become an unlikely solution to one of Bangladesh’s overlooked industrial dependencies — imported printing ink. A Bangladeshi-led research team has developed environmentally friendly ink using submicron carbon particles derived from discarded jute sticks. This is a potential low-cost alternative to imported commercial black ink. The innovation could help Bangladesh reduce import dependence in a market worth millions of dollars annually while creating new economic value from agricultural waste. The research, published in Chemistry: An Asian Journal in 2022, was led by Md Abdul Aziz, a Bangladeshi scientist at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia. “We are trying to convert low-value biomass into advanced industrial materials,” Aziz told Mongabay. “But when we tried it with jute sticks, we were surprised. We have obtained better-quality ink from jute sticks, and it can reduce the cost by about 10 times compared with the import cost.” “Bangladesh produces huge amounts of jute sticks every year,” he said, and referred to the country’s raw jute production sometimes reaching 9 million bales (1.6 million tons) annually. “Instead of treating them as waste, they can become raw materials for sustainable technologies.” Jute plantation and harvest in Bangladesh. Image by Shahnoor Habib Munmun via…This article was originally published on Mongabay