M. Hazwan Hussin

Microcrystalline cellulose: Isolation, characterization and bio-composites application-A review.

Considering its widespread usage in various fields, such as food, pharmaceutical, medical, cosmetic and polymer composites industries, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) is becoming impellent due to increasing demand of alternatives to non-renewable and scarce fossil materials. Although it still suffers from some drawbacks, MCC has recently gained more interest owing to its renewability, non-toxicity, economic value, biodegradability, high mechanical properties, high surface area and biocompatibility. New sources, new isolation processes, and new treatments are currently under development to satisfy the increasing demand of producing new types of MCC-based materials on an industrial scale. Therefore, this review assembles the current knowledge on the isolation of MCC from different sources using various procedures, its characterization, and its application in bio-composites. Challenges and future opportunities of MCC-based composites are discussed as well as obstacles remaining for their extensive uses.

Exploring the effect of cellulose nanowhiskers isolated from oil palm biomass on polylactic acid properties

In this work, polylactic acid (PLA) reinforced cellulose nanowhiskers (CNW) were prepared through solution casting technique. The CNW was first isolated from oil palm empty fruit bunch microcrystalline cellulose (OPEFB-MCC) by using 64% H2SO4 and was designated as CNW-S. The optical microscopy revealed that the large particle of OPEFB-MCC has been broken down by the hydrolysis treatment. The atomic force microscopy confirmed that the CNW-S obtained is in nanoscale dimension and appeared in individual rod-like character. The produced CNW-S was then incorporated with PLA at 1, 3, and 5 parts per hundred (phr) resins for the PLA-CNW-S nanocomposite production. The synthesized nanocomposites were then characterized by a mean of tensile properties and thermal stability. Interestingly to note that incorporating of 3 phr/CNW-S in PLA improved the tensile strength by 61%. Also, CNW-S loading showed a positive impact on the Youngs modulus of PLA. The elongation at break (Eb) of nanocomposites, however, decreased with the addition of CNW-S. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy revealed that the CNW-S dispersed well in PLA at lower filler loading before it started to agglomerate at higher CNW-S loading (5phr). The DSC analysis of the nanocomposites obtained showed that Tg,Tcc and Tm values of PLA were improved with CNW-S loading. The TGA analysis however, revealed that incopreated CNW-S in PLA effect the thermal stability (T10,T50 and Tmax) of nanocomposite, where it decrease linearly with CNW-S loading.

Physicochemical of microcrystalline cellulose from oil palm fronds as potential methylene blue adsorbents

The present study sheds light on the physical and chemical characteristics of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) isolated from oil palm fronds (OPF) pulps. It was found that the OPF MCC was identified as cellulose II polymorph, with higher crystallinity index than OPF α-cellulose (CrIOPFMCC: 71%>CrIOPFα-cellulose: 47%). This indicates that the acid hydrolysis allows the production of cellulose that is highly crystalline. BET surface area of OPF MCC was found to be higher than OPF α-cellulose (SBETOPFMCC: 5.64m2g-1>SBETOPFα-cellulose:Qa0 2.04m2g-1), which corroborates their potential as an adsorbent. In batch adsorption studies, it was observed that the experimental data fit well with Langmuir adsorption isotherm in comparison to Freundlich isotherm. The monolayer adsorption capacity (Qa0) of OPF MCC was found to be around 51.811mgg-1 and the experimental data fitted well to pseudo-second-order kinetic model.

Influence of alkaline hydrogen peroxide pre-hydrolysis on the isolation of microcrystalline cellulose from oil palm fronds

In the present study, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was isolated from oil palm fronds (OPF) using chemo-mechanical process. Wherein, alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP) was utilized to extract OPF fibre at different AHP concentrations. The OPF pulp fibre was then bleached with acidified sodium chlorite solution followed by the acid hydrolysis using hydrochloric acid. Several analytical methods were conducted to determine the influence of AHP concentration on thermal properties, morphological properties, microscopic and crystalline behaviour of isolated MCC. Results showed that the MCC extracted from OPF fibres had fibre diameters of 7.55-9.11nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses revealed that the obtained microcrystalline fibre had both celluloses I and cellulose II polymorphs structure, depending on the AHP concentrations. The Fourier transmission infrared (FTIR) analyses showed that the AHP pre-hydrolysis was successfully removed hemicelluloses and lignin from the OPF fibre. The crystallinity of the MCC was increased with the AHP concentrations. The degradation temperature of MCC was about 300°C. The finding of the present study showed that pre-treatment process potentially influenced the quality of the isolation of MCC from oil palm fronds.

The effect of p-nitrophenol toward the structural characteristics and antioxidant activity of oil palm fronds (OPF) lignin polymers

This article reports on the structural characteristics and antioxidant activity of unmodified autohydrolyzed ethanol organosolv lignin (AH EOL) extracted from oil palm fronds (OPF) and modified autohydrolyzed ethanol organosolv lignin via incorporation of p-nitrophenol (AHNP EOL). The isolated lignin were analyzed by FTIR, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, 2D NMR; HSQC and HMBC, CHN analysis, molecular weight distribution using GPC analyzer, thermal analysis; TGA and DSC. The chemical modification by utilizing an organic scavenger during delignification process provided smaller lignin fragments and enhanced the solubility of lignin by reducing its hydrophobicity properties. It was revealed that the antioxidant properties increased as compared to the unmodified organosolv lignin. Additionally, the modified lignin has better solubility in water (DAHNP EOL=35%>DAH EOL=25%).

Antioxidant and anticorrosive properties of oil palm frond lignins extracted with different techniques

ContextOil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) fronds are produced as waste during the harvest of oil palm fruits. It mainly consists of cellulose, lignin, and hemicelluloses. Lignins like other polyphenols are potent free radical scavengers and are considered to be a valuable source of antioxidant phenolic compounds.AimsThe aim was to quantify the antioxidant properties of lignins extracted from oil palm biomass using Kraft, soda, and organosolv pulping. The potential of the extracted lignins as inhibitors of mild steel corrosion was also assessed.MethodsGround and dried 1–3-mm-mesh-size oil palm fronds were submitted to Kraft, soda, and organosolv pulping in rotary digesters. The extracted lignin was characterized and oxygen uptake was measured. Anticorrosion properties of extracted lignins were monitored via electrochemical measurements and surface analysis.ResultsSoda-extracted lignins displayed the highest antioxidant activities as compared to Kraft and ethanol organosolv lignins. The highest inhibition of corrosion of mild steel was reached in the presence of soda-extracted lignins.ConclusionOil palm fronds are potential sources of lignins usable as green antioxidant for corrosion inhibition of mild steel.

Modification of oil palm fronds lignin by incorporation of m-cresol for improving structural and antioxidant properties

Lignin extracted from oil palm fronds (OPF) underwent chemical modification by incorporating m-cresol into the lignin matrix. This study reports on the physicochemical properties and antioxidant activity of unmodified autohydrolyzed ethanol organosolv lignin (AH EOL) and the modified autohydrolyzed ethanol organosolv lignin (AHC EOL). The lignin samples were analyzed by FTIR, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, 2D NMR: HSQC spectroscopy, CHN analysis, molecular weight distribution analysis; GPC and thermal analysis; DSC and TGA. The lignin modification has reduced the hydrophobicity of its complex structure by providing better quality lignin with smaller fragments and higher solubility rate in water (DAHCEOL: 42%>DAHEOL: 25%). It was revealed that the modification of lignin has improved their structural and antioxidant properties, thus venture their possible applications.

Isolation of Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC) from Oil Palm Frond as Potential Natural Filler for PVA-LiClO4 Polymer Electrolyte

In this study, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was extracted from organosolv oil palm fronds (OPF) pulp via acid hydrolysis method. The isolated OPF-MCC were characterized using complementary analysis such as FTIR, CP/MAS 13 C NMR, XRD, GPC, TGA, DSC, SEM and N2-BET. It was found that the isolated OPFMCC was identified as cellulose type I polymorph with high crystallinity index than α-cellulose (CrIOPF MCC : 76.38 % > CrIα-cellulose : 73.37 %). The obtained OPFMCC was then incorporated with PVA-LiClO4 at different LiClO4 loading (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 %) through solution casting technique to produce biodegradable polymer electrolytes of OPFMCC-PVA-LiClO4. The fabricated films were further analyzed using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). It interesting to note that, a maximum conductivity was found to be 1.88 × 10 −4 S cm −1 for OPF MCC-PVA-20 % LiClO4 with electrochemical stability window potential around 1.9 V.

Production of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) fronds lignin-derived non-toxic aldehyde for eco-friendly wood adhesive

Lignocellulosic materials can significantly contribute to the development of eco-friendly wood adhesives. In this work, glyoxal-phenolic resins for plywood were prepared using organosolv lignin, which was isolated from black liquor recovered from organosolv pulping of oil palm fronds (OPF) and considered to be an alternative to phenol. Glyoxal, which is a dialdehyde obtained from several natural resources, was used as substitute for formaldehyde. The structure of organosolv lignin and the resins were characterized by FTIR and NMR, and for thermal stability by TGA and DSC. The resins were further studied for their viscosity, pH, solids content and gel times. The resins performance as wood adhesive was further established from mechanical test in terms of tensile strength and modulus of elasticity (MOE) to obtain the optimum ratios of organosolv lignin, which replaces phenol in organosolv lignin phenol glyoxal (OLPG) resins. The adhesive composition having 50% (w/w) of phenol substituted by organosolv lignin, termed as 50% OLPG showed highest adhesive strength compared to phenol formaldehyde (PF) commercial adhesive.

Cellulose nanowhiskers from oil palm empty fruit bunch biomass as green fillers

Abstract The focus of this work is to study the effects of chemical swelling with N,N-dimethylacetamide containing 0.5% lithium chloride and hydrolysis with 64% H2SO4 on the morphology of cellulose nanowhisker (CNW) from oil palm empty fruit bunch microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). FT-IR spectroscopy showed that there are no significant changes in the peak positions, suggesting that the treatments did not affect the chemical structure of the MCC. Atomic force microscopy revealed the rod-like nature of the CNW. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that chemical swelling improved the crystallinity of MCC while maintaining the cellulose I polymorph. Acid hydrolysis, however, reduced the crystallinity of MCC and displayed coexistence of cellulose I and cellulose II polymorphs. The produced CNW-S and CNW are shown to have an excellent thermal stability and hence have great potential for a range of applications such as reinforcing agents for the manufacture of green biodegradable nanocomposites.