Published : 2021-04-13

Structure and thermal properties of microcrystalline cellulose extracted from coconut husk fiber

Abstract

In this work, chemically treated microcrystalline cellulose (MCC-C) was extracted from coconut husk fiber. In order to extract hemicellulose, the sieved coconut husk fiber was treated with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for dewaxing and acidified using sodium chlorite (NaClO2) to extract the residual lignin (bleaching process). The obtained lignin-free cellulose was then treated with potassium hydroxide (KOH). The characterizations used to equate the MCC-C with commercial grade microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) are solubility test, X-ray diffractogram (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XRD showed that the crystallinity of MCC and MCC-C increased significantly by 80.15% and 71.8% by chemical treatments. TGA found that the active removal of lignin-hemicelluloses and the thermal stability of the material were about 350–500°C and 300–500°C. The morphology of the fiber confirmed that there is an irregular cross-section, non-uniform surface, a large amount of short microfibrils and some impurities on the surface of the coconut husk fiber. The findings showed that microcrystalline cellulose has been successfully extracted from coconut husk fiber and that it can be used further.



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Abdullah, N. A., Sainorudin, M. H., Rani, M. S. A., Mohammad, M., Kadir, N. H. A., & Asim, N. (2021). Structure and thermal properties of microcrystalline cellulose extracted from coconut husk fiber. Polimery, 66(3), 187–192. https://doi.org/10.14314/polimery.2021.3.4