Characterizing Nanofibrillated Cellulose From Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch And Its Influence As Reinforcement Agent In Epoxy Based Nanobiocomposite

• Main Author: Abdul Fatah, Ireana Yusra
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: T175-178 Industrial research. Research and development
• Online Access: http://eprints.usm.my/31868/1/Ireana_Yusra_Bt_Abdul_Fatah_%28HJ%29.pdf; http://eprints.usm.my/31868/

Tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk menentukan pengaruh hidrolisis asid sulfurik, penguraian mekanikal dan penghomogenan bertekanan tinggi sebagai proses kimia-mekanikal berkesan untuk pengasingan selulosa nanofibril (NFC) berkualiti daripada gentian tandan kosong buah kelapa sawit (OPEFB). Kumpulan berfungsi dan penghabluran gentian telah dijalankan oleh spektroskopi Fourier inframerah (FT-IR) dan pembelauan sinar-X (XRD). Morfologi dan kestabilan haba telah disiasat menggunakan mikroskop pengimbas elektron (SEM), mikroskop penghantaran elektron (TEM) dan analisis termogravimetri (TGA), kalorimetri pengimbasan berbeza (DSC). Keputusan FT-IR menunjukkan bahawa lignin dan hemiselulosa telah dikeluarkan secara berkesan daripada selulosa yang diekstrak dan nanofibril. Analisis XRD menunjukkan bahawa peratusan penghabluran telah meningkat daripada gentian mentah kepada selulosa mikrofibril (MFC), tetapi penurunan bagi NFC adalah disebabkan oleh penceraian ikatan hidrogen. Saiz diameter NFC yang diperolehi adalah dalam lingkungan 5 hingga 10 nm. Analisis TGA menunjukkan bahawa NFC mempunyai kestabilan haba yang tinggi. The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of sulfuric acid hydrolysis, mechanical disintegration and high pressure homogenization as an effective chemo-mechanical process for the isolation of quality nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) from oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) fibers. The functional groups and the crystallinity of all fibers were carried out by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The morphology and thermal stability were investigated by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Differential scanning calorimetric (DSC), respectively. The FTIR results showed that lignin and hemicellulose were removed effectively from the extracted cellulose and nanofibrils. XRD analysis revealed that the percentage of crystallinity was increased from raw to microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), but the decreased for NFC was due to a breakdown of the hydrogen bond. The diameter size of the NFC determined was within 5 to 10 nm. The TGA analysis showed that the isolated NFC had high thermal stability.