Preparation and Characterization of Nano Cellulose Particles from Date Palm

Abstract

The increased awareness on environmental protection and rising demand for more eco-friendly and renewable materials has resulted in the minimization of fossil fuel consumption. Date palm plantations are an important agricultural crop in the sultanate of Oman and considered as the staple food for millions of people. More than seven million date palms are available in the northern governorates of Oman. Only 50% of the dates produced are utilized for human consumption and the remaining 50% are thrown into the environment, posing threat to human and animal. This improper disposal of discarded dates leads to pollution, habitat degradation, disease transmission, soil contamination, and water pollution, threatening the environment and human/animal health. This research aims to extract nanocellulose particles from three different parts of the date palm tree (i.e coir, front, and leaves) samples using both mechanical and Soxhlet extraction methods at varying processing conditions. The acid hydrolysis of the biomass using H2SO4 (20% v/v) was carried out at 120 °C for 30 min followed by filtration, neutralization, centrifugation and drying to form the particles. The nanocellulose particles were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX), and UV – Visible Spectroscopic analysis. Among the three types of palm residues (coir, front, and leaves), nanocellulose particles derived from coir exhibited better yield (1.5 g), whereas front and leaves has 1.2 g and 0.9 g, yield respectively. The EDX analysis demonstrated 98% purity of nanocellulose indicates the successful extraction. The FTIR spectroscopic analysis demonstrated the existence of hydroxyl groups in nanocellulose at wave numbers corresponding to 3355.69 cm−1, 2916.26 cm−1, and 2914.22 cm−1 respectively for coir, front, and leaf respectively. The XRD analysis demonstrated the crystalline structure of the nanocellulose particles.