Preparation and Characterization of Nanocelluloses from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Cellulose

Abstract

This study aims to prepare nanocelluloses from chemically purified celluloses of oil palm empty fruit bunch (CPC-OPEFB) by using acid hydrolysis. The nanocelluloses from CPC-OPEFB was prepared with sulfuric acid treatment at the concentration of 67 wt% and temperature of 40 ± 1 °C, for 10, 20, 30, and 40 min. As a comparison, nanocelluloses from commercial microcrystalline cellulose (C-MCC) were also prepared with the same condition. The effects of hydrolysis time on the morphology and physical properties of the obtained nanocelluloses were investigated. Observation with TEM showed that nanocelluloses from CPC-OPEFB were long and fibril, whereas the ones from C-MCC showed a rod-like structure and crystalline. This observation was in agreement with the DSC analysis, i.e. the endothermic peaks were not present on the DSC curve of nanocelluloses from CPC-OPEFB, whereas it was clearly observed on the DSC curve of nanocelluloses from C-MCC, indicating that the nanocelluloses from CPC-OPEFB were amorph, and the ones from C-MCC were crystalline. The particle size analysis revealed that the diameter of the obtained nanocelluloses was affected by hydrolysis time. The best hydrolysis time to obtain the smallest diameter of NFCs from CPC-OPEFB and NCCs from C-MCC was 30 and 40 min, respectively.