Abstract
Environmental concerns due to excessive use of synthetic or petroleum-based materials have encouraged scientists to develop novel, sustainable, and multifunctional material using abundant lignocellulosic biomass. In this work, a study was conducted on the isolation of cellulose from wheat straw using two different methods: acidified sodium chlorite and alkaline hydrogen peroxide. A comparative study was carried out based on the yield and properties of extracted cellulose. The final product (after treatments) was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for the identification of properties. Both the treatments isolated pure white color cellulose. However, the yield of cellulose isolated through acidified sodium chlorite treatment (81.4%) was higher than alkaline hydrogen peroxide treatment (79%). Moreover, no huge difference was observed in the crystallinity and thermal properties of extracted cellulose.
Highlights
Excessive use and reliance on nonsustainable materials has led to ecological and economic crisis around the world
In comparison with treated fibers, raw wheat straw fibers (DWS) have high percentage of hemicellulose and lignin with low percentage of cellulose as compared to treated fibers. e content of α-cellulose increased from 44 ± 0.5% to 81.4 ± 1.5% by using acidified sodium chlorite treatment
After alkaline hydrogen peroxide treatment, α-cellulose content increased from 44 ± 0.5% to 79 ± 1.0%, whereas, hemicellulose and lignin content decreased from 36 ± 0.5% to 14 ± 1% and 17 ± 2% to 8 ± 0.5%, respectively
Summary
Excessive use and reliance on nonsustainable materials (synthetic or petroleum based) has led to ecological and economic crisis around the world. It leads researchers to find potential alternative that should be sustainable materials derived from renewable sources, especially lignocellulosic biomasses [1]. E utilization of products developed by using lignocellulosic biomass has numerous advantages over those made from petroleum fractions such as renewability, biodegradability, cost and energy effectiveness, and environmental friendly nature [2]. Wheat straw (Triticum aestivum) is one of the most preferable biomass in the world because of its availability around the year. Pakistan is rich in the production of wheat. Us, very small amount of wheat crop’s waste is used for livestock, and mostly it is utilized for burning purpose, resulting environmental issues. By considering all these factors, wheat straw can be considered as biomaterial for many domestic and industrial applications
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