Morphological, Physiochemical and Thermal Properties of Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC) Extracted from Bamboo Fiber

Abstract

Bamboo fibers are utilized for the production of various structures, building materials, etc. and is of great significance all over the world especially in southeast Asia. In this study, the extraction of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was performed using bamboo fibers through acid hydrolysis and subsequently different characterizations were carried out using various advanced techniques. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis has indicated the removal of lignin from MCC extracted from bamboo pulp. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) revealed rough surface and minor agglomeration of the MCC. Pure MCC, albeit with small quantities of impurities and residues, was obtained, as revealed by Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicates the increase in crystallinity from 62.5% to 82.6%. Furthermore, the isolated MCC has slightly higher crystallinity compared to commercial available MCC (74%). The results of thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) demonstrate better thermal stability of isolated MCC compared to its starting material (Bamboo fibers). Thus, the isolated MCC might be used as a reinforcing element for the production of green composites and it can also be utilized as a starting material for the production of crystalline nanocellulose in future.

Zhurkov’s Stress-Driven Fracture as a Driving Force of the Microcrystalline Cellulose Formation

“…Variations of the destruction activation energy of 10–15% can be caused by the structural reorganization (or stress) of the polymer matrix that was shown for nitrocellulose [ 31 ]. Besides that, the enthalpy of the MCC decomposition process ( –700 J/g) was two-to-three times greater than that of initial cellulose ( J/g), which qualitatively corresponds to the earlier results: the MCC thermal destruction always requires greater energy than initial raw [ 15 , 17 , 20 , 21 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Such a ratio confirms our hypothesis.…”

“…Zhurkov's fracture hypothesis also explains the straight, cleaved faces of the MCC particles (Figure 2) described by many other authors [15,16,19,20,33]. Under the load, the stress concentrates at the crack's edges, which may result in its avalanche-like expansion and breaking of the fiber along it.…”

“…On average, in raw cellulose, the second peak appears between 320 [ 15 , 17 ] and 350 °C [ 20 , 21 ], depending on the raw used. In MCC, the second peak can be found in a wide range of the temperatures (320–450 °C [ 33 ] either at greater temperatures [ 15 , 20 , 21 , 34 ] or lower temperatures [ 33 ] compared to the raw cellulose. However, the enthalpy of the thermal destruction of MCC was greater than raw cellulose [ 15 ].…”

Morphology, Structural, Thermal, and Tensile Properties of Bamboo Microcrystalline Cellulose/Poly(Lactic Acid)/Poly(Butylene Succinate) Composites

“…These were further vacuum oven dried at 80 for 24 h to get dispersed and high quality MCC. Thus, MCC of higher yield of 80% and crystallinity index of 82.6% were obtained [ 23 ].…”

Biodegradable composites from bamboo Fibers - Mechanical and Morphological Study

“…This makes utilization of natural cellulose more interesting. Cellulosic bers is now regarded as an e cient reinforcement material due to their ease of availability, low cost, renewability, high toughness, biodegradability, acceptable speci c strength and low speci c gravity [6,7]. Various cellulosic bers are preferred as reinforcements such as waste cotton, sisal, mulberry, roselle, jute, ax, and pine needles [8,9].…”