The positive attributes of excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability of biocomposites with the addition of versatile nanocellulose from agriculture wastes have provided plenty opportunities for further development of functional biocomposite in various fields. Therefore, solvent casting was selected as a reinforcement method in order to produce biocomposite comprise of nanocrystalline cellulose and PLA polymer. Modification of nanocrystalline cellulose through acetylation reaction was conducted upon reinforcement to reduce its surface polarity and hidrophilicity. Biocomposite films prepared at various unmodified (uNC) and acetylated nanocrytalline cellulose (aNC) loading were exposed to morphological (FESEM), tensile test and thermal analysis (TGA). Reinforcement of aNC shows a better dispersion in PLA polymer due to the decreasing of surface polarity, thus increasing inter-facial interaction between both materials. This is proven by greater performance of biocomposite films in tensile strength, Young�s modulus and thermal stability of aNC reinforced PLA as compared to uNC reinforced PLA. Overall, it can be concluded that these research findings can widen the scope of biocomposites research area and have significant implications for the commercial application of biomass products.

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Banana stem (BS) was used as the natural cellulose source. It must undergo an alkali treatment and bleaching process before continuing with an acid hydrolysis. Then, the Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) was synthesized via acid hydrolysis with four different concentrations of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) at 50 %, 52 %, 54 % and 56 % respectively at 50 0C for 1 hour. The influence of acid concentration of morphology, thermal and chemical properties of the NCC was studied in this project. The morphology dimension of the NCC was determined by using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and thermal stability of the NCC was determined by using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Chemical composition and structural analysis were measured by using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).

The aim of this study was to study the morphology and structural characteristic of NCC hydrolyzed from filter paper. The NCCs were extracted by acid hydrolysis at 50°C for 1 hour, using 55% conc. H2SO4 under vigorous mechanical stirring, centrifugation at 12000 rpm in distillate water and followed by homogenizing at 7000 rpm. The morphology and surface profiles of the NCC suspension was characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The crystalline structure of the NCC was evaluated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. As a result, hydrolysed NCC was found to have a rod liked shape with diameter in the range of 100-300nm length and 10-50nm width, with the aspect ratio value of 10.3 nm. According to XRD investigations, the semi-crystalline cellulose was observed with the presence of an amorphous broad hump and crystalline peaks at 2θ of 15o and 22.7o, respectively. The crystalinity index of the raw filter paper was calculated as 86.7 % and increased to 94.4 % as it was extracted to NCC. Crystallite size of raw filter paper and NCC was calculated as 20.6 nm and 11.4 nm, respectively