Synthesis of Cellulose Nano-Crystals from Coconut (Cocos Nucifera) Coir Pith
Nitin Kumar1, Safdar Hasmi2, S. Chittibabu3
1Nitin Kumar, Department of Biotechnology, Periyar Maniammai Institute of Science and Technology, Vallam, Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu), India.
2Safdar Hasmi, Department of Chemical Engineering, Periyar Maniammai Institute of Science and Technology, Vallam, Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu), India.
3Chittibabu.S, Department of Food Process Engineering, Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology, Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu), India.
Manuscript received on 07 November 2021 | Revised Manuscript received on 28 November 2021 | Manuscript Accepted on 15 December 2021 | Manuscript published on 30 December 2021 | PP: 13-17 | Volume-1 Issue-1 December 2021 | Retrieval Number: 100.1/ijfe.A1003121121
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Abstract: Experiments on isolation of cellulose nano-crystals (CNC) from coconut coir pith were performed. Sodium hydroxide pretreatment (NaOH), Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) delignification and sulphuric acid (H2SO4) acid hydrolysis were applied for the isolation of CNC from coir pith. The CNC suspension thus obtained was dialyzed, sonicated and lyophilized to get CNC powder. The lyophilized powder was examined to study the physiochemical properties of CNC using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). FT-IR studies confirmed the presence of cellulose in the isolated crystals by the molecular conformations of cellulose. From the SEM and TEM images, it was observed that the isolated CNC is in the form of fibrils or rod like structures with an average width of 12-20 nm and average length of 112-308 nm. XRD studies confirm the crystalline nature of the sample and the crystallinity index of CNC was found to be 75.17 %. Coir pith has high lignin content when compared to other agro waste materials. Hence it is suggested to carry out effective delignification process for the isolation of CNC. The morphological and structural characteristics of CNC obtained from coir pith proved that it could be used to produce nano-composite materials.
Keywords: Coir Pith, Cellulose, Acid Hydrolysis, Nanocrystals.
Scope of the Article: Coir Pith