Open AccessStructural, morphological and thermal properties of microcrystalline cellulose extracted from coconut husk fiber
Author(s) -
Nur-Athirah Abdullah,
Muhammad Hanif Sainorudin,
Mohd Saiful Asmal Rani,
Masita Mohammad,
Nurul Huda Abd Kadir,
Nilofar Asim
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
polimery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.295
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 0032-2725
DOI - 10.14314/polimery.2021.3.4
Subject(s) - husk , microcrystalline cellulose , cellulose , fiber , thermogravimetric analysis , sodium hydroxide , materials science , crystallinity , hemicellulose , lignin , potassium hydroxide , nuclear chemistry , microcrystalline , thermal stability , cellulose fiber , chemical engineering , chemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , botany , engineering , biology , crystallography
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.