Manufacture and Characterization of Bio-Composites Using the Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion (VARI) Method with Ramie Fiber (Boehmeria Nivea) Reinforcement as Raw Material for Wind Turbines Driving Water Pumps on Saltland

Abstract

Indonesia with 104,000 km of coastline has great potential for the development of salt production and is expected to be able to meet national salt needs. However, domestic salt production has not been able to meet national salt needs due to low productivity of salt production. The application of technological innovations that are high-efficiency and come from renewable energy sources is needed to be a solution to the problem. One of them is the use of wind turbines as a driver of salt field irrigation pumps. The wind turbine driving the salt land pump currently still uses wood as the main material for its manufacture, the use of wood in addition to having a relatively short lifespan also has the potential to result in massive deforestation. Alternative raw materials for making wind turbines are needed as a substitute for wood, one alternative is to use NATURAL FIBER, namely Ramie Fiber as a raw material in making Wind Turbines. The advantage of making this natural fiber wind turbine is that the costs incurred are relatively cheap and jute fiber is abundantly available.  This research is to make and test the characteristics of Bio-Composite materials with ramie fiber reinforcement (Boehmeria Nive) using the VARI (vacuum assisted resin infusion) method for the main raw material for environmentally friendly wind turbines as a driver of water pumps on salt land. The results of this study indicate that all tensile test results of ramie fiber reinforced composites exceed the requirements of the calculated force parameters and CAE simulations for wind turbine blade applications of 9 N/mm².