Plant fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin composition

A method for reinforcing a thermoplastic resin composition comprising:

• a) providing an amount of cellulose of a natural plant material;
• b) mechanically separating core cellulose fibers from outer plant fibers in a decortication process that does not include hammering or bending/flexing the natural plant material;
• c) chemically separating the cellulose fibers from hemi-cellulose and lignin fractions of the core tissue fibers after the decortication process;
• d) producing from the decortication process and chemical separation process cellulose fibers having a porous surface for interaction with a thermoplastic resin;
• and
• e) blending from about 1 to about 60 weight percent of the cellulose fibers based on the weight of the composition with a thermoplastic resin,
• wherein the cellulose fibers and the thermoplastic resin are molecularly bonded to one another by the resin flowing into and diffusing or dissolving the cellulose fibers in the resin.