Influence of Soaking Time and Sodium Hydroxide Concentration on the Chemical Composition of Treated Mango Seed Shell Flour for Composite Application

Co Anidobu,Ea Yerima,Rm Government,Bi Nnaemeka,Ja Olowokere,Cm Odineze

doi:10.4314/jasem.v23i1.3

Abstract

Lignin and hemicelluloses are the major impurities to be removed in natural fibers for it to be suitable in composite application and other uses. This research is based on evaluating the influence of soaking time and sodium hydroxide concentration on the chemical composition of treated mango seed shell (MSSF) by immersing the MSSF in NaOH solution at concentration of 2.5 - 7.5 wt % and soaking time of 2-6 hr, in order to decrease the lignin and hemicellulose content while increasing its cellulose content. The optimum conditions obtained for concentration and soaking time of NaOH were 6.09 % and 5.22 hr, respectively. At these conditions, cellulose content was increased to 94.8002%, while the hemicelluloses and lignin content were reduced to 2.2779% and 0.508502%, respectively. The process parameter of MSSF was optimized using central composite design (CCD) to predict the cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin content. The quadratic model of response surface model (RSM) was adopted for the prediction of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin content. The maximum error between the predicted using CCD and experimental results was less 0.38%. These errors in variation for both the predicted by the RSM and the actual gave good alignment with both results. Therefore, at these treatment conditions, MSSF can be utilized for composite application and other industrial purpose. Keywords : NaOH, Chemical Modification, Mango Seed Shell Flour, Chemical Composition

Highlights

Nowadays, agro-based lignocelluloses derived from plant have been major raw materials in the composite industries for the manufacturing of new products (Obasi, 2015)
The present research involved the use of novel mango seed shell flour (MSSF) which is to be treated with NaOH with the sole aim of increasing its cellulose component through the reduction of the hemicelluloses and lignin constituent of the Mango Seed Shell Flour (MSSF)
The objective of this work is to study the effect of varying NaOH concentration and soaking time on the chemical composition of Mango Seed Shell Flour (MSSF) in order to determine their optimum conditions in composite application

Summary

Introduction

Agro-based lignocelluloses derived from plant have been major raw materials in the composite industries for the manufacturing of new products (Obasi, 2015). The variables are soaking duration, concentration of the alkali treatment, temperature of the reaction and the ratio of fiber in the alkali solution (Kim and Han, 2012; Shaihaidu and Soh, 2016; Iroba et al, 2013) Research in this area has shown that NaOH treatment of agro-based has improved cellulose content and decrease hemicelluloses and lignin content. These include Shea butter bark flour (Akpake, 2017), wheat straw (Sun et al, 1995), rice straw (Kim and Han, 2012; Shaihaidu and Soh, 2016) and barley straw (Iroba et al, 2013). The objective of this work is to study the effect of varying NaOH concentration and soaking time on the chemical composition of Mango Seed Shell Flour (MSSF) in order to determine their optimum conditions in composite application

Objectives

Methods

Results