Cellulose nanocrystals isolated from oil palm trunk

Published Date
Carbohydrate Polymers
20 August 2015, Vol.127:202–208, doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2015.03.043

Author 

• Junidah Lamaming ^a
• Rokiah Hashim ^a,,,
• Othman Sulaiman ^a
• Cheu Peng Leh ^a
• Tomoko Sugimoto ^b
• Noor Afeefah Nordin ^a

• aDivision of Bioresource, Paper and Coatings Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia
• bForestry and Forest Products Research Institute, I Matsunosato, Tsukuba 305-8687, Ibaraki, Japan

Received 7 February 2015. Revised 4 March 2015. Accepted 8 March 2015. Available online 30 March 2015. 

Highlights

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  Cellulose nanocrystal was successfully isolated from oil palm trunk.
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  Diameter and length of the cellulose nanocrystals produced fall within range.
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  Cellulose crystallinity and thermal stability increased after acid hydrolysis.
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  Hot water treatment did not affect the size and properties of obtained cellulose.

Abstract

In this study cellulose nanocrystals were isolated from oil palm trunk (Elaeis guineensis) using acid hydrolysis method. The morphology and size of the nanocrystals were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that the nanocrystals isolated from raw oil palm trunk (OPT) fibers and hot water treated OPT fibers had an average diameter of 7.67 nm and 7.97 nm and length of 397.03 nm and 361.70 nm, respectively. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy indicated that lignin and hemicellulose contents decreased. It seems that lignin was completely removed from the samples during chemical treatment. Thermogravimetric analysis demonstrated that cellulose nanocrystals after acid hydrolysis had higher thermal stability compared to the raw and hot water treated OPT fibers. The X-ray diffraction analysis increased crystallinity of the samples due to chemical treatment. The crystalline nature of the isolated nanocrystals from raw and hot water treated OPT ranged from 68 to 70%.

Keywords

Cellulose nanocrystals

Oil palm trunk

Raw fibers

Hot water treated fibers

Thermal properties

Crystallinity

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• ⁎ 
  Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 4 653 5217; fax: +60 4 6573678.

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