Valorisation of Bagasse Cane by-Product: Effect of Cellulosic Fibers and Coupling Agent on Thermal, Mechanical and Rheological Behaviours of Reinforced Polypropylene

Abstract

Recently more attentions are growing every day towards the valorisation of industrial by-product especially those generated through agriculture and food industries, as the demands of bio-based resources for the necessary transition from fossil hydrocarbon sources to natural based products are increasing. This paper focuses on the potential effect of chemical treatments and modification as well as fibers loading on the thermal, mechanical, and rheological behaviour of reinforced Polypropylene (PP). During this work, fibers were prepared using alkali and bleaching treatments and then characterized using different analysis such SEM, X-ray, FT-IR and TGA/DTG. The composite materials were elaborated using twin-screw extrusion followed by injection molding by mixing PP with 5 to 10 Wt.% of raw bagasse cane (RBC), alkali bagasse cane (ABC) and bleached cellulose microfibers (BCM) as well as cellulose microfibers with Styrene-(ethylene-butene)-styrene three-block co-polymer grafted with maleic anhydride (SEBS-g-MA) as coupling agent. The result achieved from this study shows that the use of different type of fibers led to significant decrease in thermal degradation of PP. The mechanical results show a significant improvement in Yung’s modulus, tensile strength and hardness of the reinforced PP compared to neat PP. However, a remarkable decrease was obtained in elongation at break and toughness for all reinforced composites compared to neat PP. Besides, higher and low torsion modulus was obtained for PP reinforced with BCM and SEBS-g-MA-BCM, respectively.Statement of Novelty: This study aims to valorise bagasse sugar cane by-product as a lignocellulosic source for the isolation of cellulose fibers. Innovative composite materials were prepared based on polypropylene.