Both fibers were cut with a Ring Knife Flaker to a length of around 2 mm. These chopped fibers were then manually sieved through a smaller size sieve (0.5 mm) to obtain a homogeneous size of fiber. The fibers were allowed to dry outdoors in the full sun for a few days. After that, these dry fibers were soaked and left in a 5% maleic anhydride (MAH) solution for an hour, with a catalyst of 0.5% NaOH. After 2 hours of drying in a hot air oven set at 60 0 C, the treated fibers are ready to be used.