Isolation and Characterisation of Cellulose Nanofibre and Lignin from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches

Abstract

A study on isolation and characterisation of cellulose nanofibre (CNF) and lignin was conducted to expand the application of CNF and lignin from oil palm biomass. CNF was extracted by steam explosion and the by-product was precipitated to obtain lignin by using the soda-pulping method. The concentrations of NaOH used for CNF by-product precipitation were 2%, 4%, and 6%. The morphology of CNF and lignin was characterised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The nanofibre of CNF with dimension between 50 nm and 100 nm was investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The functional group was observed using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, showing that CNF had the structure of cellulose-I. In addition, the chemical structures of isolated and commercial lignin were analysed using 1H-NMR spectrometry. CNF had a 72% crystallinity index characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), while lignin showed an amorphous form. The characterisation of isolated lignin was compared with commercial lignin. The two lignins had similar particle size distribution from 1 to 100 μm. From UV-visible analysis, the lignin had aromatic rings/non-conjugated phenolic groups. The morphology of isolated lignin was rough and flaky. Commercial lignin was in powder form with near-spherical morphology. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of CNF showed 30% of residue at 600 °C. The results showed a simple method to isolate CNF and lignin from oil palm empty fruit bunches.

Extraction of Microfibrillar Cellulose From Waste Paper by NaOH/Urethane Aqueous System and Its Utility in Removal of Lead from Contaminated Water

“…Figure 1c exhibits the secondary electron image of extracted microfibrillated cellulose. Although there are many reports [24][25][26] on morphology of cellulose studied by a variety of techniques, secondary electron images are never reported. This manuscript reports the first-ever secondary electron image of microfibrillated cellulose.…”

Antimicrobial and antihemolytic properties of a CNF/AgNP-chitosan film: A potential wound dressing material

“…Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) from oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFBs) were isolated using the pulping method followed by acid hydrolysis [27]. The materials used in this study were DMaC(aq), AgNO3(s), J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f starch(s), acetic acid(l), HNO3(aq), NaNO2(s), Na2SO3(s), NaOCl(aq), H2O2(aq) 30%, and LiCl(s) purchased from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany).…”

Biorefinery System of Lignocellulosic Biomass Using Steam Explosion

“…Several bleaching agents are available in the market, such as alkaline peroxide, sodium hypochlorite, and sodium chlorite, which are separated by filtration to obtain holocellulose, which is a raw material used for CNF. Hollocellulose can be directly processed to obtain CNF by using the grinding treatment [55,[69][70][71], high-pressure homogenization [57,[72][73][74], acid hydrolysis [54,56], enzymatic hydrolysis [41,75], and ultrasonication [67,76,77]. The second route is the bleaching process followed by TEMPO-mediated oxidation to isolate the CNF [68].…”