If you read abstract of document linked bellow I suppose it is clear. There are several reasons but mainly financial, energy and ecological reasons can be the most important.

http://www.pnl.gov/main/publications/external/technical_reports/PNNL-19220.pdf

If you read abstract of document linked bellow I suppose it is clear. There are several reasons but mainly financial, energy and ecological reasons can be the most important.

http://www.pnl.gov/main/publications/external/technical_reports/PNNL-19220.pdf

Although the natural fibers have less modulus of elasticity and tension strength than artificial ones (glass, boron or carbon), they may be sucessfully used for composites manufacturing due to renewability as well as ecological advantage as Lukáš Richtera noted.  The specific mechanical characteristics of such composites become high because of relatively small density of  such  fibers  in comparison with glass fibers. Good luck!

Increased potential of economical benefits of agro residues in diverse market prompted govt agencies to allocate research fund in value-adding. This factor resulted in a large number of research activities worldwide.

Because they are biodegradable and abundant

The natural fibers are evolutionary optimized materials. From the mechanical point of view this appears in good combination of strength, elastic and viscous properties which are inherent to many biological materials. Thus, the structural and mechanical peculiarity of natural fibes as a reinforcing filler we may appraise so great advantage before artificial fibers!

Best regards, Serge

Hello,

Below is an excerpt referring to the importance of biocomposites. It is from "Yılmaz, N.D. “Agro-Residual Fibers as Potential Reinforcement Elements for Biocomposites”, Chapter 11, in “Lignocellulosic Polymer Composites: Processing, Characterization and Properties”, Ed. Thakur, V.K., Wiley -Scrivener, USA, ISBN 978-1-118-77357-4, s. 233-270. , 2015".

"Increasing public awareness of the negative environmental effects of synthetic materials together with ever-stricter regulations, have boosted the growth of environmentally-friendly industries which produce "green" products [1].

These environmentally-friendly products include biodegradable and biobased materials based on annually renewable agricultural and biomass feedstock [2], which in turn would not contribute to the shortage of petroleum sources [3]. Biocomposites, which represent a group of biodegradable biobased products, are produced by embedding natural fibers into polymer matrices [4].

Biocomposites have some distinctive advantages as compared to petro-based nonbiodegradable composites. Namely, the plant fibers have lower density, lower cost [5], better crash absorbance, and thermal [6] and sound absorption properties [7] compared to glass fibers. Furthermore, plant fibers cause less tool wear, skin and respiratory irritation than glass fibers [8]. Besides, plant fibers are renewable and biodegradable [5] and achieve good energy recovery if incinerated at the end of the service life [9]."

Best Regards.