Cellulose Fibre from Schinus molle and Its Characterization

Abstract

The exploitation of biomass represents a major environmental challenge related to the protection of the environment and the progressive exhaust of fossil resources. In this perspective, the main objective of this work is the extraction and the characterization of natural lignocellulosic fibers from the Schinus molle. The cellulose fibre extraction was investigated employing conditions of alkali treatment. After the alkaline steps, a bleaching treatment was done and let to a yield about 45% pure cellulose. The identification of the chemical composition of Schinus molle reveals that this raw material contains a high level of biopolymers with a cellulose rate of 53.2%. Extracted cellulose fibers have been characterized by several techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, Morfi, and by the determination of their degree of polymerization. FT-IR results confirm the purity of the cellulosic fibers, and XRD analysis reveals that the crystallinity increases after the delignification and bleaching treatments.