Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) is a biodegradable crystalline powder that normally isolated through acid hydrolysis process of cellulose. However, the implication of high concentration of acid, such as more than 5M sulfuric acid (H2SO4) in MCC production is concerned. Therefore, this work studies the effect of low acid concentration (1.5, 2.5 and 3.5 M) and hydrolysis temperature (40, 60 and 80 °C) for the MCC isolation from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) assisted with steam explosion process cellulose fibers. Yield, crystallinity and chemical properties of the isolated EFB-MCC were discussed and compared with the commercial MCC. The crystallinity result shows the range of 72 – 77% for the isolated EFB-MCC. The highest crystallinity (77%) achieved at 3.5M H2SO4 at 80°C, similar to the crystallinity of the commercial MCC. As for the yield, the trend is decreasing severely as the increment of temperature, however small reduction of yield detected at different H2SO4 concentration. While for the chemical properties, FTIR spectra illustrated consistent wavenumbers detection for the EFB-MCC, commercial MCC and exploded EFB-Cellulose. It can be concluded that the optimum condition for the acid hydrolysis process is 1.5M H2SO4 at 60 °C with the middle range of crystallinity (74.7 %) and yield (82.4 %).
Empty fruit bunch (EFB) is a potential chemical feedstock particularly cellulose and lignin. However, the complete extraction of lignocellulosic structure in EFB is complex and difficult to achieve. Steam explosion is a pre-treatment process which has the ability to loosen the polymeric bond between the EFB structures. In this paper, the effect of steam explosion process towards the lignin removal was investigated. The raw EFB and exploded EFB were further extracted through the alkaline-hydrolysis process to obtain the yield of the insoluble lignin. In addition, the samples were also characterized using FTIR and TGA analysis. The yield obtained showed that the amount of lignin was reducing after the steam explosion process. Similar data were also recorded from the FTIR and TGA analyses. This work concludes that other than reducing the polymeric strength of the EFB’s lignocellulosic structure, the steam explosion also helps the delignification process.
In this study, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was extracted from empty fruit bunch (EFB) with alkaline treatment, bleaching and acid hydrolysis treatment and its properties were compared with commercial MCC. Two conditions were optimized in this study which are fiber consistency and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) concentration in alkaline pretreatment. The obtained optimum consistency and alkaline concentration are 5% and 20%respectively. The physicochemical and morphological characteristics, elemental composition and size distribution of the obtained alpha cellulose and MCC were analyzed in this work. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis provided clear evidence that the characteristic peak of lignin and hemicellulose were absent in the spectrum of the alpha cellulose and MCC. The difference in surface morphology and aggregation between alpha cellulose, MCC and commercialized MCC were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mean length of approximately 251.3 μm, 41.4 μm and 138.6 μm were measured for alpha cellulose, MCC and commercialized MCC respectively. Thus, the isolated MCC from EFB has a good potential to be utilized as reinforcing agent in green composites and may be a precursor for future roselle derived nanocellulose, and thus a promising subject in nanocomposite research.
Bleaching reagent process is essential for the production of cellulose, pulp, and paper to increase the appearance and quality of the final products. Empty fruit bunch (EFB) is an agricultural waste with a lignocellulosic constituent. Recently, the conversion of EFB towards pulp for food packaging and paper manufacturing or cellulose-based materials has been actively developed in lab and pilot scales. However, obtaining efficient extraction and bleaching processes is still the main challenge. In this paper, the effect of different bleaching reagent at different sequences towards the brightness properties of the EFB fiber is observed. The EFB fiber was pre-treated using steam explosion process, hot water treatment, and alkaline treatment before undergoing the bleaching process. Four systems of bleaching process were set using NaOCl and NaO2Cl as the bleaching reagents. Two sets of the system are using single reagent and the other two sets are using mixed reagent. In the single reagent bleaching system, four stages of bleaching process were used for each NaO2Cl (C) and NaOCl (H) solution respectively. Meanwhile, the mixed bleaching reagent was conducted with two stages of processes with different sequence of reagents (CH and HC). The bleached cellulose obtained via these two systems were characterized in terms of brightness, chemical composition, thermal characteristic, and degree of crystallinity. The mixed bleaching reagent system the HC has produced the best quality of cellulose with brightness at 77.68%. The chemical and thermal characteristic of the bleached pulp fiber did not change when the bleaching method was applied to the fibers. Even though a single bleaching reagent system with sodium chlorite shows almost similar brightness at 78.66%, the quantity of solvent used is higher compared to the mixed bleaching reagent system. As a conclusion, mixed bleaching reagent system is an efficient system to produce a better quality of cellulose and paper from EFB.
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