Abstract
In this paper, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were isolated from the cellulose extracted from cocoa pod husk waste, followed by characterization using XRD, FT-IR, TGA, SEM and TEM to determine its crystallinity, structural properties, thermal characteristics, morphology and dimensions respectively. The result revealed that the cocoa pod husk amorphous segments containing hemicelluloses and lignin were extensively removed with increasing chemical treatments leading to increased purity, crystallinity index and thermal stability of the extracted materials. The diameter, length and crystallinity index of the CNC isolated from the CPH are 10–60 nm, 41–155 nm and 67.60% respectively.
Highlights
Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) is an important fruit crop cultivated for its seed “cocoa beans” which is in high demand for use in the manufacture of chocolate, cocoa powder and butter
This paper presents the isolation of cellulose nanocrystals from cellulose extracted cellulose from cocoa pod husk waste using for the first time to the best of our knowledge the conventional chemo-mechanical method: acid hydrolysis followed by ultrasonication
In the spectrum due to the raw cocoa pod husk (CPH), the band at 1744 cmÀ1 is ascribed to the stretching vibration of the acetyl and uronic ester groups in pectin, hemicelluloses or the ester linkage of carboxylic group of ferulic and p-coumaric acids of lignin and/or hemicelluloses (Costa et al, 2015; Rosli et al, 2013; Sheltami et al, 2012).This band is absent in the spectra of CPC and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) obtained after chemical treatment and acid hydrolysis respectively
Summary
Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) is an important fruit crop cultivated for its seed “cocoa beans” which is in high demand for use in the manufacture of chocolate, cocoa powder and butter. Cocoa pod husk biomass represents about 75% of the cocoa fruit weight; for every ton of cocoa beans produced about 10 tonnes of cocoa pod biomass is generated as waste (Bello et al, 2011; Daud et al, 2013; Vriesmann et al, 2011) This massive feedstock supply which is currently underutilized could provide a continuous supply of raw material for a potential CPH biomass-based industry. A modified form of the conventional method in which mild sulphuric acid (1% v/v) was used for the hydrolysis of CPH has been reported (Jimat et al, 2020) In this attempt, CNCs with particle size distribution 200–400 nm were obtained. This paper presents the isolation of cellulose nanocrystals from cellulose extracted cellulose from cocoa pod husk waste using for the first time to the best of our knowledge the conventional chemo-mechanical method: acid hydrolysis The effects of the chemical treatment on the cocoa pod husk and the resultant fibers obtained were characterized using Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)
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