Extraction of cellulose from oil palm empty fruit bunch using eco-friendly solvents for preparation of transparent cellulose thin film

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this research is to extract the cellulose using eco-friendly reagents of hydrogen peroxide and formic acid and determine the optimum reaction time for delignification process. The extracted cellulose and characterised using FTIR, TGA and PSA. The percentage yield of extracted cellulose were calculated. The highest yield was found to be 65.78 % at reaction time 120 min. The FTIR spectral studies confirm the removal of lignin from the delignified cellulose at peak 1613 cm−1 and the TGA result shows the thermal degradation of extracted cellulose at 329.04, 329.92 and 330.99 °C at reaction time 60, 90 and 120 min. The PSA studies provided the evidence of extracted particle size of the cellulose become finer as the reaction time increase. The particle size observed for delignified cellulose at 60, 90 and 120 min are 68.4, 64.6 and 57.3 μm. The extraction of cellulose and characterization to determine the optimum reaction time was able to obtain. From the result obtained, it can be concluded that the longer the reaction time, the higher the percentage yield of cellulose extracted. Film formation was later carried out using the extracted cellulose from different reaction time.